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PUNSHON'S SERMONS. 



S E R M O N S 



EV. WILLIAM KOKLEY VUNSHON. 



[«> WHICH [S I 



A PLEA FOR CLASS-MEETINGS, 



WITH 



AN INTRODUCTION BY H. MILBURN 



BAN FRANCISCO, CAL: 
K. THOMAS, 711 MISSION BTRB 
1868, 



jg/233-3 



BERTWMI SMITH 

SEP 2 8 W33 



LC C ° ntr °i Numb er 

iififiiMiiui 




'iniiMiiiiniii, 

^P 96 031699 



CONTENTS. 



TAQM 

INTRODUCTION bt Kkv. w. II. Milburv, ? 

PRELIMINARY PLEA FOR CLASS-MEETINGS, 21 

I.— MEMORIES OF THE WAY, 43 

II. — TIIK BELIEVER'S SUFFICIENCY, 67 

III.— THE MISSION OF THE PULPIT, 93 

IV.— SOLICITUDE FOR THE ARK OF GOD, 119 

V.— THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST, 139 

VL— ZEAL IN THE CAUSE OF CHRIST, 163 

VII. — THE CHRISTIAN'S INHERITANCE, 183 

VIII— THE HEAVENLY CONQUEROR, 205 

IX. -THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH, LIFE, PROSPECTS AND 

DUTY, 227 

X.— THE APOSTLE'S GROUND OF TRUST, 849 

XL— THE EFFECTS OF PIETY ON A NATION, 27G 

XII.— THE PROPHET OF IIOREB-IIIS LIFE AND ITS 

LESS' >XS, 2D7 



I N T B ODUOTION, 



On a bright sunshiny morning (and such were strangely 
frequent id London in the summer of 1857) I drove from my 
lodgings, Little Ryder street, St. James', two or three miles 
in a southwesterly direction to Brixton Hill Wesleyan Chapel. 
The edifice was that day to be dedicated to the worship of 
Almighty God, and the preacher on the occasion was the 
Rev. William Morley Pcxsiiox. I had heard much of 
him, and was naturally desirous to listen to one who was 
called the most eloquent of living Wesleyan preachers. 

As I reached the chapel in advance of the time for com- 
mencing the service, I entered the vestry, where I was 
introduced, among others, to the preacher I had come to 
hear. lie seemed a man about five feet ten inches in height, 
rather inclined to corpulency, for one of his age (not then, 
I should Bay, above thirty-four), with by no means a strik- 
ing or expressive face when in repose, and possessed of a 
v./iee rather husky and not at all prepossessing. 

His dress was thai of all Wesleyan ministers in England, 
closely approaching the style of the clergy of the estab- 
lished church — the invariable white neck-tie surmounting 
the uniform of Muck. The appointed hour arrived, and 
we entered the chapel, 

vli 



Vili INTRODUCTION. 

The prayers of the church of England — excepting the 
Litany — were read by the superintendent of the circuit 
from a desk on one side of the chancel. Mr. Punshon then 
mounted a desk on the other side of the chancel, gave out 
a hymn, and offered a brief extemporaneous prayer. 

His reading was not at all impressive, and I began to 
wonder whether, indeed, lie could be an orator. In truth, 
I had been so often disappointed that I had almost come to 
regard a reputation for eloquence as priffld videiieo 

against a man's possessing it, and I was tempted to think 
in this case, that I was once more befooled. The preacher 
took his text and proceeded with the discourse. A 
brief exegetical introduction was followed by the announce- 
ment of the points he meant to treat. The arrangement 
of the sermon A\a^ textual, methodical and AYesleyan. 
The English take far less latitude in sueli matters than 

we. The Wedeyans are Wesleyans indeed, imbued with 
the spirit and almost adhering to the letter of our Great 

Founder. Well-nigh every sermon has its three heads, and 

each head its three subdivisions, ami at the conclusion of the 
third "thirdly," comes a close, searching, and practical appli- 
cation. This style seems to he considered almosl indispens- 
able to orthodoxy, and forms a striking contrast to the lai 

often latitudinarian, and frequently hcltcr skelter freedom of 
style allowed in this country, where all manner of truth, 
and even untruth, is preached from any text that may he 
selected, under the plea that the style is "topical." 

The form of the English pulpit obliges the preacher to ad- 
here to a pulpit manner. It i^ modelled upon the shape of 
the little wooden boxes we see in Roman Catholic chur- 
in this country, affording room for one person only — nw\ Q a 



in ntoDi on is 

to it being gained bye Long flight of winding steps, and 
when yon have toiled to the dizzy height, you find yourself 
overlooking the galleries, and perched, perhaps twenty 
feet above the floor. Not a little Belf-control must be 
practised by the preacher, and he is compelled, whether 
he will or not, to pay a good deal of attention to the 
laws of gravitation, and other decorous regulations, or 
the -tern penalty of a tumble maybe enforced upon him. 

The platform of this country (for our pulpits are nothing 
more), in its Blight elevation above the floor, its nearness to 
the people, its susceptibility to impression from the audi- 
ence, and the vantage-ground, it affords the preacher for 
imbuing the hearers with his own sympathies, is a great 
advance upon the English desk, and a near approach to the 
ambo of the early Church. The difference, as to the stand- 
ing-ground of the preachers of the two countries, is signi- 
ficant — almost symbolic — of the difference of their styles. 

The English seem to fancy, that our method, in its 
reach after the people, its disloyalty to technical rule, 
its range of illustration, and its disuse of a strict theo- 
logical phraseology, as well as in its free adoption of the 
language of common life, borders upon a reprehensible 
looseness. 

To the American, on the other hand, the close adherence 
to models, the almost single variation between a dogmatic 
and hortatory style, and the employment of a limited range 

of words, not BO much Scriptural as conventional, make the 

English pnlpit appear formal. No doubt each could learn 
something of advantage from the other; and it seemed to 

me, that Mr. Punshon occupied the enviable portion of 
Standing midway between the two, with many of the 

1* 



X INTRODUCTION. 

advantages of both. He is systematic, yet untrammelled, 
and while technical in his arrangement, he is still free and 
varied in illustration. Confining himself to the legiti- 
mate themes of the pulpit, he at the same time docs not 
despise the useof general literature. His aim seems to he 
to make nun Christiana — either to convert them from sin, or 
to establish them in holiness, not to teach them political 
economy, to educate them in aesthetics, to afford them 
brilliant disquisitions in metaphysical science, or to enforce 
on them the flattering assurance, that the private soul (that 

is, the essential me) is higher and grander than society, 
State, church, law, or Scripture. 
The Btaple of his discourses, when 1 heard him, concerned 

man's spiritual and eternal welfare, and did not consist in 
flowers, stars, breezes or clouds. I should say that lie is 

better read in the writings of St. Paul and St. John, than 

in tho.se of the Gnostics, and that he holds the canon of 
Scripture to he binding upon men, as a rule of faith and 
practice. 

As to politics, I have a BUSpicion (hut I can only state it 
as a suspicion, for I heard him say nothing on the subject), 

that he prefers the English Revolution of loss, to the 
French Revolution of 1789 ; and that he holds the powers 

that be, are ordained of God, and not of the Devil; and 
therefore, if he taught anything on the subject, that lie 
would teach fealty to the constitution of the land in which 
he lives, loyalty to the law, obedience to constituted 
authority, as the duty of every good citizen, and not, that 
insubordination and revolution are the crowning gloriei ol 
every regenerate soul. lie is liberal, but his liberalii J 
not the equivalent of a contempt for orthodoxy ; and while 



INTRODUCTION'. XI 

bowr of his countrymen may esteem him a progressive, I 
hardly think his progressnreness consists in the recently 
Expoun ded doctrine of consistency, u be true to yourself to- 
day- no matter what you said or did yesterday - v - that is 

wy, progress and the weathercock are one and the same 
thing. 

A- Bir. Punshon advanced in his discourse on that pleas- 
ant June morning, an occasional emphasis, applied with 
judgment, betokened the practical speaker; and the finish 
o£ his sentences betrayed thorough preparation. As he 
warmed to his work, quickening at the same time the gait 
of his articulation, you found him gaming a strong hold 
not only upon your attention, but upon your feelings ; and 
you discovered that underneath the ample and rather loose 
folds of adipose tissue with which his outer man is in- 
vested, there are great stores of electrical power. He pos- 
sesses that attribute indispensable to the orator, for which 
we have no better name than magnetic. You are rooted 
as by a spell, and surrender for a time the guidance of your 
own thoughts. You have dropped the helm of your mind, 
for a more skillful pilot has for the nonce taken your place 
at the tiller. 

Occasionally, you find the speaker's power over you 
going to such lengths as to control your respiration, and 
you breathe as he breathes, or as he gives you liberty. Who- 
ever has known the delicious pain of a long, deep inhalation 
— half a sigh of relief, half a welcome of the outer world 
for the time forgotten — while listening to a speaker with 
euch rapt earnestness that every faculty of mind and sense 
i> concentrated in the one act of hearing, has felt what ora- 
tory is. He has felt it, but ran he describe H P He might 



Xll INTKODUCTION. 

as well attempt to describe the thrill of love or rapture. I 
doubt not, Mr. Punshon has showed many people what ora- 
tory is, and made them to know the power of the orator; 
but I question much if he can teach them the power of his 
art, or how to analyze and define it. It is not the power of 
intellect, for I have seen and heard nothing from him 
extraordinary as an intellectual production* It does not lie 
in his taste — I am not sure it that would bear the te-t of 
rigid criticism. It is not in the exhibition of -tores of lcarn- 

ing; his lift has been too busy and practical M enable 
him to gain great stock of lore. It is noi in the tricks of 

a charlatan or the skill of an actor, for Mv. PuSBbot) is 

a sincere, devoul and godly man. The charm of etaqnenee 

retreats from the scrutiny of analysis as life retires from 

the knife of the anatomist 

Before he has reached his major fcw tliii-^llx,'' it is all 
with your independent consciousness; you have yielded at 

discretion aid are the prisoner of his feeling. 1 am halt' in- 
clined to believe that his own intellect bin the >aine plight, 
and that memory BCtfl warder of the brain, under 

Writ from the lordly SOul. Y<»u have thrown criticism to 

the dogs; your ear has exchanged itself for an eyej the 
bone and flesh of your forehead become delicately thin. 
the lamina of the cornea, and your brain - adeue d 

with the power of the iii-. You enjoy the ecstasy o£*iei 
and as the speaker stops yon recover yourself e no ugh 

to feel that you have had :m apocalyptic hour. 

It seems to me, that the true measure of eloquem 
found, not bo much in what is said as in what is sug- 
gested; not so much in the speaker's ability to convey to 

you an idea, as to sutfuse you with tb* glow of a sentb 



xiii 

men! ; qoI bo much bo the truth which La uttered) as in the 
J behind the truth, of which yon I come, for the time, 
arer, 

Punshon is much more of an orator than any man I 
beard in England, Iu society he is simple, quiet, and 
Dial; bis excellent good sense, and unaffected piety deliver 
him from the Minns i)£ egotism, and the foolAh w< 

self-conceit. The chalice of praise turns many a great 
man's head. The goblet which the English public has 
offlbred to Mr. Punshon is huge and brimming; hut if the 
oontents have affected him, I did not discover it. I have 
an idea, that he gives close and scrupulous heed to the 
Apostle's admonition: " Let no man among you think 
more highly of himself than lie ought to think, but let him 
think soberly, righteously, according as God has dealt to 
every man the measure of faith." 

Mr. Punshon is not as robust as he looks. He is not able 

to study closely more than three hours at a time, and fre- 

utiy not more than that out of the twenty-four hours. 

lie prepares himself for the rostrum and pulpit with the 

trupulous and exhaustive care. I should say that the 

iter part of his sermons and lectures arc committed to 

memory, and delivered almost word for word, as they were 

forehand composed. His recollection is, therefore, at 

and tenacious. This plan, while it insure 

of public performance and saves him from 

many mortifying failures, at the same time shuts him out 

from the ground of highest power. 

" Mr. Punshon was born (I now quote from reliable 
authority i on the 20th of May, 1824, and - -fully pa- 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

bifl examination for the Wesleyan ministry in the year LB & 
He is a native of Do • and is related, on the mother's 

side, to the Morleys of that town, and since of Hull, Sir 
icMorley being his ancle. The only child ofhia parents, 
he early displayed that wonderful memory for which he is 
now so remarkably distinguished, and a propensity I 
it with facts which rarely interest mere boys. At the Don- 
caster Gramtnar School, where he was educated, he is said 
not to hare di I any surprising proficiepcj ; hut 

when still a child he was able t<> name nearly all the niem- 

: ; Commons, with the places for which 

they sat, and the color of their politi 

k * I»i i urly U ' w ith the Wea 

unily bel 
bat public affai lued to i e his rulii and 

the most surprisin : 
adorning the M ild not have 1" en electri- 

i\\\. :i. When .dialhcr and 

unci at in Hull, he wac 

in their countinj rt He may ha\ e bad 

nts for 1 on ran in another di 

tion. Durii supposed bo 

bed 
in n | and the 

in which the 
in i ' at, 

11 h\ the d< bett( r posted up. The 

ptation of a dailj ible ; and while 

the other clerks were de ip in Eg i ling li- 

the orators of th R formed Parliament 
watching ti tone and M 

■ be matu ad Palm 

marking Shiel and O'ConneU for bis 

own. The ; _-• politic) Lorn 

of much importance; but it so happened that young Pun- 

tion to ■ w him into the 



nTTBODUOTION. xv 

ety of three young men who were earnest disciples of 
tlif then newly born conservative opinions of Sir Robert 
IVrl and his adherents, and who held weekly meetings to 
strengthen each otherin their political faith. Once a month 
one of them read a paper to the rest on a given subject ; 
and though not more numerous than the celebrated knights 
dfthe thimble in Tooley street, they called thenjselves u The 
Menticultural Society.' 1 Two of the three survive, one 
being a Wesleyan minister, and the other a clergyman <>t' 
tlie Established Church. In tliese weekly discourses and 
monthly lectures, Mr. Punshon first distinguished himself as 
possessed of those faculties which have made him eminent. 
BTor did he and liis associates confine themselves to politics ; 
for there is in existence a small volume of poetry, which 
they published conjointly, and to which Mr. Punshon con- 
tributed a piece entitled " The Orphan," of considerable 
promise. About the same time he received, under the 
ministi y of the Rev. Samuel Romilly Hall, those impressions, 
which resulted in his religious conversion. He then became 
hool teacher, and subsequently a local preacher, 
lb' began to preach when he was eighteen years of age, and 
exhibited much ability in the pulpit. His first attempt was 
made at Ellerby, near Hull, and it was so successful as to 
cause She sermon to live in tho memory of at least some 
who heard it, for they talked about it years afterward, 
when Mr. Punshon visited the place. Under such circum- 
stances there could be little doubt that his vocation was not 
in the counting-houde. But still he was kept in the com- 
mercial circle, for from his relatives in Hull he was sent to 
an uncle at Sunderland, to follow up the pursuit on which 
he had entered. 

*But the books in which he delighted were neither 1. 
nor day-boolts. His refined fancy and polished taste made 
him an ardent admirer of the sublime and beautiful in lite- 
rature, and at the same time his religious views led him t<> 
employ his talents more than ever in the preaching of the 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

Gospel; ami as certain rivers are lost in m lose 

si^bt of his commercial career Bomewhere among the coal- 
pits and iron-works of the North. 

"During the* ts he had been bereared of bofli pa- 

rent Lfather, at length convinced that secular 

business was not his 1 made liberal arranger™ 

y in the Wesleyan Insti- 
tution, after a preliminary course of I ion at the h< 
of hii mi R( v. 1 > njamin ( at D 

main ; it tofng (band, 

bably either that his genius 

trail hat by Belf-culttire, and 

the help of his ministerial i . he had i I a profr 

h, \\ itfa • a more 

;::il training. In the Bpring 

parishi i tl Episcopal ( ' at M >rderi, Kent, 

hurch in that town, 
Mr. Punshon w 

H( com] li( •! with t!. ler h\< 

mini try their numb Lly increased that a c 

dious ehapel \\ i BH< I. I: 

horl ti;- \ that he remained in 

plaoe, for in the autumn of 

nndi le jurisdiction tl [Vr 

ooi im to \\ : 

an- 1 attracted I From 

lie was remoi ed t.» tin- i I and two ftet- 

ward to Ne In both of tres 

of population Mr. P ired a worthy name, 

and became a migl t; j at Brio ; 

land, (i. I, Shields, and the other towns of I 

, where In- nev< 
only partiall; . \ , . ■ ; 

at New n in his twentj 

ried a daughter of .Mr. Vicars, of'< \ I, a v< 

maUe and highl; iplished lady, whose prematura death 



INTR0DU0T1" xvn 

in 1858 threw the darkest shallow aoross Mr. Pnnshon's 
path, just when he had been appointed to a Metropoli 
circuit, where enlarged usefulness and new honors awaited 
the gifted and ardent ambassador of Christ ; when m< 
unwelcome, the King of Terrors came and took the angel 
of the pastor's home away to her sister spirits in glory. 
U-frora Newcastle Mr. Punshon was removed in L851 to 
(field, and thence to Leeds in 1855. It was while he was 
at Sheffield that the fame of the preacher became noi* 
al>r<>ad ; and his services were soon in very frequent requ 
for Bpecial sermons, and also for lectures. It was, we be- 
lieve, in the character of a lecturer that lie appeared for the 
; time in London, some six or seven years ago. We wed 
ollect the circumstance of bis standing upon the platform 
of Exeter Hall to discourse to the members of the Young 
Men's Christian Association on the Prophet of Horeb. It 
was not, strictly speaking, a lecture; but an oration of ex- 
treme brilliancy, suited in a high degree to captivate the 
minds and find its way to the affections of a youthful audi- 
ence ; and we never remember to have heard such rapturous 
applause as that with which the thousands there assembled 
■ted each glowing period. The whole of the oration 
. r< 1 inemoriter, and with extraordinary fluency ; 
and Mich was the literal fidelity with which the speaker 
had followed the manuscript, which was either in his pocket, 
or at home, that when it shortly afterward appeared in 
print, it would have been difficult for the most retentive 
memory of the closest listener to have pointed out a sen- 
tence that the lecturer had not uttered. By this sin 
performance Mr, Punshon established a Metropolitan repu- 
tati< his own denomination, which was in 

some two or three years afterward by his second lecture in 

Hall, before the same Association, on the Immortal 
Dreamer, John liunyan; ami, more recently Still, by that 
most masterly oration on the Huguenot, which tens of thou- 
sand* in almost all parts of England fcw list - 1 to with 



xvm urn 

unbounded delight. With one or t ptiom, psrhape, 

llicre is no hying minister in this country p ossoof Qd of 

much popular power as Mr, Punshon. [l SMftbmg 

1 to witness the spell of hisgeniilfl upon 

leUaneous audiences of from three to five thousand | 

in St James 1 Hall, Exeter B the provincial 

, who have pai 1 from a shilling t«> a half crown eafch 

for admission. Most p ill probably prefer Mr. If un« 

i in character of a lecturer rather than that of 4 preacher. 

In the pulpit he is unqu< Btionably a master, and ond 

tot | ; but tl 

oishi i" the di 

In i. thai w hieh has 

i nothi 

i \ ery illus- 
trative simile, tl nfidently said he writes out 
and <■• tnmif i to and 

. W:...' welL Wheth r 

ii is in I ordinary d in a M< thodist 

cha] pular disoourse 

.it public buildin 

, lec- 
turer, i c >upj '.. 

. he is al 

In a two J i i ucli a 

tlie of France throughout the w hole ] i the 

Hug ions, ordinary and even \ i 

turere would ha d a manuscript in< 

But, Mr. Punshon. A few not* a on i 

held in the hand were all the prom] I, w !.< n 

we heard him go through hi i ;. 

that old story of persecution with an inspiring elc 
that made men hold their breath whi . listened, 

burst fort^b into a tempest of applause. Vigorous, 

, ami inipaa ted himself to the \ i 



in r&oDi oi ion. 

t^fl of his auditory, do! by any apparent effort, but by 
simplicity, and Btrength, by speaking right oat the 
thoughts ili.it were in him. II*' roused every passion, 
touched every emotion, and awakened every sympathy in 
the hearts of his bearers." 

With God's blessing Mr« Punshon has yet, according to 
the English Btandard, lull thirty of his host years before him. 
May he have length of days and fullness of power, so that 
he shall continue to prow in favor witli God and man, is 
the hearty wish of his friend, 

W. II. MlLEUKX. 
Brooklyn, May I5th y 18t>0. 



P R E L I MIX AIM' PLEA 



TABOR; OR, THE OLASS-MEETINa 

If any of you, dear friends, had been privileged to 
witness the scenes which once hallowed the summit of 
Tabor — if you had seen the Saviour baptized as the 
King of Glory — if you had "feared as you entered 
into the cloud" — if you had been a favored listener to 
that heavenly converse — if you had been thrilled, as 
Peter was, by the upliftings of wondrous hope and mi- 
foldings of gracious purpose, as " they spake of his de- 
. Inch he should accomplish at Jerusalem" — who 
of yon conld have withheld the deep-felt expression of 
gladness, "Lord, it is good to be here!" — who of you 
lid have restrained the desire to build, upon thf* 1 
sacred spot, the "tabernacles" of remembrance and ot 
rest ? 

Dear friends, there is yet an institution in whose ob- 

vance the humblest Christian talks with his Master, 

1 with hi- blaster's followers — that institution is the 

k> assembling of ourselves together" for the purposes of 

church communion — there is yet a place upon earth 



22 TABOE 

where some relics of that excellent glory linger, where 

the experiences of that mount of blessing are not all 

forgotten — that place is a pious and properly conducted 

Class-Meeting. Many a time has the writer of this 

brief address felt it.- salutary influent gladden the 

.^>ul in st trial, to encourage the fail- 

:it in heavenward progress, to brace and nerve 

mind for difficult duty; and, with a grateW recol- 

tion of tin.-*-, its Tabor-pleasures, lie commends its 

advanti you. "I believed, th« bare I 

Wedoi im fort! -Meeting an essentially 

divine origin, although it would ho difficult >ubt 

that an overruling Providei 1 at its 1-irth, 

and has kept it in i d until now. The mind, 

which devoutl; I with God there is 

thing trivial, will readily acknowledge that when 
J( ihn v, ping merely 

and with ii<> foresight of the future, call tlier at 

ir own request "eight or ten persons in London" — 
there were in heaven an eye that marked and a love 
that blessed the deed 



M A t! it or little o 1 1 1 

It i- hut the littleness of man tha: greatness in a trifle." 






Mark the tenor of the language which tells of ti 
of the u United Societies," which, founded npon scrip- 
tural principles, have now expanded into a flourishing 

church : 



t.w.oi: ; OB) THE I i.a->-mi:i.tixo. 

u In the latter end of the year 1789, tight or ten per^ 

- came to me in London, who appeared to be deeply 
convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. 
They desired (as did two or three more the next day) 
that I would Bpend some time with them in prayer, and 

advise them how to flee from the wrath to come, which 
they saw continually hanging over their heads. That 
we might have more time for this great work, I ap- 
pointed a day when they might all come together; 
which from henceforward they did every w r eek, viz., 
on Thursday, in the evening. To these, and as many 
[pore as desired to join with them (for their number 
increased daily), I gave those advices from time to 
time which I judged most needful for them; and we 
aUo concluded our meetings with prayer suited to their 
several necessities." 

How forcibly does this remind us of the days of 
Malachi, when " they that feared the Lord spake often 
one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard — 
and a Book of remembrance" — theZorcVs class look — 
w% was written before him for them that feared the Lord, 
and that thought upon his name !" How vividly does 
it recall that union in prayer which gives it such a 
princely power! "If two of you shall agree on earth 
as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be 
d-ne lor them of my Father which is in heaven." 
How does it bring before us the exhortations scattered 
through the whole compass of apostolic writing ! 



2i tabo: 

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law 
of Christ;-' — and especially how accordant is it with 
the confession of our faults one to another (not auricu- 
lar confession to a priest — that we abhor), which St. 
James enjoins. (Jas. v. 10.) If we have not direct 
Scripture command, we have Scripture permission, ap- 
proval, and Osage ; and, while we are content that a 
Class-Meeting should 1 idered as prudential rather 

than authoritative, we hold to the persuasion that it has 
been a means of grace, which, perhaps beyond all 
others of a supplemental character, has been signally 
honored by the blessing of Go<L 

V U, aa btearen of OUT mini-try, are doubtless aware 

that membership in cue of the-' In- 

dispensable to constitute anion with Methodism, and 
that those only, who statedly attend tip i of 

Christian fellowship, are "accredited and rightful com- 
municants of our Church." Writii U 

we condemn not other section- of the church universal. 
It may not he their vocation. They certainly do not 

prize it as their privilege. For ourselve n\ for 

the benefit of our own family, v 

an ardent attachment in this matter to the "good ways" 
of our fathers. The Class-Meeting Is Btoried of ohl. 

It is associated with our traditional and Bacrsd records 
of the master spirits of early Methodism — thtiN lar 
hearted men "of whom the world was not w« 
It Wat to them as the blest Elim of palms and fount- 
ains to the desert wayfarer; and such is the Fanctity 



i LB B : I IB, TUB I 

if affection with wliicb we regard it, thai it compels 
the prayer, not with bated breath, but with the loud 
ntreaty ;— < tod forbid the day should 
bt (lawn when the Olass-Meeting shall cease to be 
ao organized system of testimony, the badge erf mem- 
bership in the Metliodist branch of the Church of 
Ghrisfc 

u- be guarded bere. We do not believe, nor do 
we affirm, that connection with the Class-Meeting is 
Hily an indication of piety, nor of that right 
state of heart which is acceptable in the sight of God. 
There may be — there probably are — numbers amongst 
uf whom we arc "in doubt," and over whose de- 
live consistency we mourn. It is not surprising, 
when there were " carnal waiters" in the Corinthian 
church, and even a Judas amongst the twelve. But 
-wL there an equal vigilance to prevent the re- 

gnition of improper persons as members? In what 
irch in Christendom are there manifested greater 
fidelity and solemnity in matters of experience and 
practiced The charge of encouraging mixed fellow- 
ship, which has been so injuriously cast upon our minis- 
ters, is unwarranted and untrue. That our only re- 
quirement is i% a desire to flee from the wrath to come,"' 
mil But what does this meant How is it ma- 
nii' It is not the careless confession, in "which 

there is no heart — nor the emotion of the man, who 
■ents to-night and .-in.- again to-morrow — nor yet 
the mere feeling of remorse, the Judas-like penitei 

2 



26 TABOR ; OB* THE CLASS-MELT IN 

which "worketh death." There must be " repentance 
toward God" — the deep and abiding penitence — the 
strong conviction of personal guilt and danger — the 
"broken heart,' 3 which is God's chosen sacrifice — the 
godly sorrow, which chastens the entire character — 
the whole of the em bended in the i 

pressive word — contrition. None, in the judgment of 
our church — as en 1 in her inimitable Rules 

sincerely feel this but they who bring forth its 

"fruits meet for repentance' 3 — the crushing of 

ingratitude — the careful avoidance of evil — the ear:. 
inquiry good — the Bubn search for truth — 

and the n which refuses to be satisfied 

without the ezperi power. None hut tl < 

therefore, are interested in this address. Do do! d 
take as. We invi on the assumption — and that 

assumption -and that assumption is 

all that is indi - ou arc thus desirous to 

from the wrath to " We are jealous of 

ace that may pollute its purity. The can! 

and the profane, and the trifling, and the selfish — 
alas! that we have such hearers I— our invitation 

by. 1 Nearly a ish their w< 

not invite them, in their pi te, us. 

"They have no pari nor lot in the matter." But wo 
believe there are thou f our 1 in differ 

parts of the Land, whose hearts God hath touched 
who are hopeful and promising as to I 
impression, and who manifest a concern 



T.\ :. n.\«.. 27 

for their i and it is t<> them we make our 

appi 

1 1 ar ds, those of 3 on that are in such a c 

bo tins membership we invite you, We have watched 
tor y<>ii with eager Bolicitude. We have yearned over 
you with a j yearning, Upon your spiritual 

e we have expended many an anxious thought, for 
yato spiritual welfare wo have breathed many a fer- 
vent prayer. We rejoice to see you in the sanctuary, 
hut we would have you glad us with your presence at 
our family festivals. We see you standing at the 
threshold — we wish you to cluster round the hearth- 

ie and to be warmed at the fire. Perhaps you have 
dot adequately considered the advantages of this in- 
valuable fellowship. Will you lend us your attention 
!«»r awhile to a brief enumeration? 

I. The Class- Meeting induces Self-examination. — 
Thoughtlessness is the great sin and inveterate habit of 
the world. The natural man presents the " remarkable 

etaele of a soul afraid of itself, afraid to stay with 

!f, alone, still and attentive." He may, perhaps, 
have parleyed sometimes with his immortal spirit, after 
the manner of some lordly nobleman speaking to an old 

vant of his house : " Soul, thou hast much goods laid 
up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be 
meny; M or, haply some adventurous one set out with 
the fixed intention of visiting his heart's Becret cham- 
bers, but his feelings were like those of one who entered 
a cdoomv and long-deserted mansion. To his di 



28 tabor; dk, the CLAB8-ioarrt» 

dered imagination strange tremors shook tlie arras, 
unearthly echoes sounded from the Btair, apparitions 
met the draining eye-ball upon every landing— 

"For oyer all there hang a cloud of fear, 
A • : d jbV j the s] :: '•■ daunted, 

And said, as plain as whisper in the ear, 

The ] •.'inted !'' 

and lie retired affrighted, with the lug, mid drops ripon 
his brow, and it mnst be a powerful motive that will 
tempt him into those chambers again. Nay, tin- I. 

is char] I i a 

great extent upon his people now, " My /■ not 

consider." How apt is the Christian, the heir of a 
nobler life, the pi of a In lith, to i 

the examination of himself) The <■ 
of this utilitarian age have been all i fctons, to 

which his busy spirit has been but too prom- to yield. 
The engrossing influence of busim onward march 

of intellect, the absorbing strife of politics, eten the 
enterprises of religious philanthropy, have all, in turn, 
contributed most Badly to hinder the practice of M -]f- 
communion. The active has banished I 
and it is to be feared that there are proi erf reli- 

gion, w m all the moments spent uptAx 

themselves <u so much waited tirru . 

Wordsworth ha indignant protest agfeinst 

the intrusion of a railway to disturb the serenfties of 
Grasnicre and RydaL Oh, for some spiritual laureate 



TABOK ; OK, l LIE I '2',) 

one bm o< : sii ger in brael, to decry the multi 
plied excitements which tramp and rattle through the 
! mind I Afj friends, the Oia - Meeting will 
Head you beside these BtiU waters." No right-minded 
; devotional spirit , da/res enter it without some kind 
self inquiry— some examination of himself — "whe- 
ther he be in the faith," During the week, it may be, 
when the Btrife of competition waxed fierce, and the 
race of human pursuits was going vigorously en, your 
thoughts were hurried into the midst of them, until 
they were bewildered even to exhaustion ; but now the 
13-Meeting is at hand, and the mind retires into its 
sanctuary, and communes with itself and its God. It 
is like t lie court-day of the soul, when the steward con- 
nce takes cognizance of all the tenants, and bri: 

•tively beneath their Master's eye. How 
that inquiry! How hallowed that commu- 
. ! " Another week of my probation has fled. 
What ree<»rd has it borne? What blessings has it seat- 
ed from its wings? What deliverances have I expe- 
rienced i What battles have I won ? What have 
been my omissions, heart-wanderings, sins? Am I 
holier, more spiritually-minded ? Have I a nobler 
rn of the world ? a more earnest avarice for heaven \ 
The heart must be the better for inquiries like th< - . 
mad" Bearchingly, and in the spirit of prayer. Then. 
perhaps, heavenly thoughts will troop upon us, like the 

descending visitants of Jacob's dream — and it may be — 

who knows? that we may 'entertain angelfl unaware.-'/ 



30 tabor; 

or, better still, some kind-looking stranger may join na 
on our EmmauB-travel, and make 'our hearts hum 
within us as lie talketh with ns by the wajr.' Ji R 
are no trifling bl and these the ( ; ! Meeting 

indirectly procures, use it, i pels 

self-communion, and thus induces a habit which may 
Ik- as powerful for good a- former habits we] irfttl 

for evil. 

II. The 01 \e — 

the love of gratitude — is the >e <>t' religion — the 

first feeling of il. It sprii itric 
in the mind of the Ik I 

An:;:-.' it lannol frighi 
ir ! All the th< 
worldly w 

will — a 

\ Lew of the 

enkindled. M We love him I lored i 

This feeling of g too d< fa] tot 

description. Language is bul a mockery. Qlurtrntion 
fails. It is beyond a figure, and without a parallel. 
Wh( thai an 

hidden in the breast, should Bpend itself by it. own 
continuity I Gratitude ■ like the mountain ;e 

lanche, which gains intensity from don— it is 

rather like the fire, which imprisonment extingmtbei 
or air, which, pure and five, is the refreshing hre.-ith <>\' 
heaven; but, fouled by confinement, is the Uatt of 
pestilence and death. Contemplation open Qodfe 



r \r.oi; j OB, [HI OLA KEBT1 KG, 81 

boundless love tends naturally to expression. u WJUile 
1 was musing tin 4 fire burned, then Bpake I with my 

E*ue." I la Meeting furnishes the most 

appropri n for this expression of praise. I 

tiougli to redeem from privacy, and nol Large 
exclude the notion of a family, and it would 
be difficult to find a more legitimate sphere, in which 
the full heart may utter its thanks, unfold its ho] 
and breathe it- prayers. Nay, can there be gratitude 
without this thankful acknowledgment i Is there not 

>ugh in the dealings of your heavenly Father to 

ipel it I The grace which loved you from the begin- 
ning — the visitations of mercy which have lighted your 

b — the beams of promise that have shone upon 
your head — the kind heart that has borne with your 
Wanderings — the beckoning hand which restored you 
when you went a8tray — are they not constraining you i 
If we were permitted to anticipate the objection which 
the rebel heart sometimes whispers: "I cannot speak," 
might we nol say — Ahl friends, get the love of God 
I within you, and it will fill your mouth with 
Wondrous is the power of this surpass- 
ingly mighty theme. It makes the lips of the stam- 
merer eloquent, and the heart of the diffident bold. 
Under it- inspiring influence, knowledge kindles on the 
nance — praise flows from the tongue — and the 
most timid and retiring are transported into the invita- 

■ <»f the Psalmist, "Come all ye that fear God, and 
I will dedan what he hath done for mv soul." 



82 TALOR ; OK, THE eLASS-MKEilNG. 

III. The Claw. Meeting recognises brotherhood* — It is 
a mighty truth which God has written upon the uni- 
verse, and stamped enduringly upon the great heart «»t' 
humanity, that " No man liveth to himself/ 5 The 
world is a vast mi The feeblest 

woman or the humblest peasant exerts an inline' 
which must be felt in the great brotherhood of man- 
kind. It is a | ! appointment of Providence, that 
it has, in some sense, made our very selfishntfss hem 

lent — that it lias hound us, at the p< ril of Losing our own 

enjoyments, to care for tin- nec< of others — and 

that it has o.v the most Batisfying elements of 

public hap] rom the joys and perils of individual 

lot The heart, by a law of its constitution, mkist harts 

nothing t<> which ii can attach itself. Its emblems 
ar ■ the summer-tendril and the clasping ivy. It • 
never formed for the hermitage or the monastery — and 
you must do violence to all I I oharil 

fore ii will entirely denud of all objects of 

..nd love. The ( 'lass-Mei ting haw otanei in 
to wwpjU/y a great want of nature. Ii concentrates the 
brotherhood — prevents it from being frit- 
tered away in vague and sentimental generative! — and 
gives it a definite object and aim. If the church is tin* 
temple, the Class-Meeting is an inner and 1 inelo- 

sura If the church is the populoi , the Ci 

Meeting is the united family, where love i.. th&ooed in 
the heart and confidence nestles in tin- roof-tree, BveiiJ 

faithful leader will impress Upon his flock, and Ml 



I \ ft, THE OLA B mi I I CNG. 

d member will take care to feel, that, while the 
cliinvli at large claims his philanthropic sympathy and 

brt, to his own fellow-members he is to cherish the 

er and deeper feelings of home. Here especially 
there are no orphans. u Whether one member suffer, 
all the members suffer with it ; or one member be 
honored, all the members rejoice with it." They are 
joined as in a commonwealth. "They love as bre- 
thren." Why join you not this heavenly communion i 
Are you not, like the prodigal, in a far country, and, 
perhaps, it' your pride would but confess it, inwardly 
pining for the u bread enough and to spare" of your 
Father's house at home? Have you sufficiently consi- 

vd that in your present state, regarding you as 
travellers to another world, you arc isolated, and — for- 
give the word — selfish — exhibiting a practical denial of 
all brotherly relationship, by remaining to wrestle with 

ii- enemies, and gain your heaven alone? 
\ v . 77- Class-Meeting elicits Sympathy* — Good sense 
i oxprerience are the fruits of intercourse. 2s"o 
man ever yet became either wise or holy by exclusively 
"communing with his own heart upon his bed." We 
have heard much lately on the tendency of seclusion 
to cherish the spirit of piety, and there are not wanting 

>8e who would revive in all their severity the monas- 

ages. Mistaken men ! The sweet 

flowerets of Divine grace can rarely be acclimated to 

the damp soil of the convent ; they are not like the 

litive mi which shrinks even from t' tlest 



31 tabor; or, the class-meeting. 

handling, but rather, like the delicate hearfs-ease, 
grateful for gracious dew-falls, and breathing zephyrs, 
and the blessed sun, and yet courting the culture and 
the companionship of man. Christianity is not an ima- 
ginative revelry upon great truths — it is an earnest 
endeavor to exemplify them. It is not contemplative 
pietism, it is unceasing labor. It is not an alien princi- 
ple, which has 11.1 sympathy with our nature, and is 
content with its distant and constrained submission — it 
IS an fill-pervasive element, Bhrined in the heart, and 
influencing benignly the whole of the character. 
u Knox, w says Dr. Chalmers, "did not destroy the old 
Eft >mish pulpits at the time of the Reformation ; lie did 
better: he preached in them." Christianity i\<n>< not 
annihils does no1 extinguish a single 

affection of our uature. It do r. It employs the 

former \'<>v its own uoble purpo I it fixes the latter 

where they may attach themselves, without fefcr of 
idolatry, even upon "things above." The pa&ions of 
[an, therefore . ong — the affections of 

the Christian are as warm — as those of any man. The 

charities of life, and of love, and of home, flourish 

endearingly in the mind of the Christian as anywhere, 
and he has that intense yearning for sympathy which 
characterizes universal man. Here again, the ('!;. 
Meeting vwppU of nature. It iscompo ed 

a hand of wayfarers, met for the express pu'rpoee of 
sympathizing with each other in the struggles and perils 
of their common journey. I low often has it opened up 



TABQB ; OB, i BE 0LAS8-MEE] QTG. 35 

a weekly heaven, amid the dull and clouded atmosphere 

of sinfulness and timel One I- Borely tempted* The 

iptation presses hard apon his spirit, with Mich 

mighty fascinations is it clad in Buch newer blasphei 

- it prompt him to indulge, that he thinks Burely 

a " temptation that is not common to men." But 

at t lie Class that week, a fellow-traveller relates the 

xperience of the same suggestions, and the blest 

experience of deliverance from their power; and a new 

BOng 18 put into his mouth, and he goes on his May re- 

Another is bowed down beneath the influence 

B temptation adjusted with such nicety to his peculiar 

aetment as to he almost irresistible in its appeals, but 

the weekly season of fellowship has come, and the 

words of the faithful leader " are words in season," and 

One mightier than the leader is there, and a glance at 

hit pure countenance — a touch of his invigorating hand 

— and he is nerved for the conflict, and spurns the 

saulter away. Another has been stricken with a 

spiritual paralysis — a wearisome torpor has seized him, 

a strange indifference has come upon his soul — and, as 

in the Class-Meeting, he tells his tale of half-heartedne-s 

1 sin, amid the counsels of the faithful and the 

prayers of the pious, the glorious presence of the 

3 in light upon the chained one, and in all 

th and nobility of spiritual life, he "walks" 

••with God.' 5 

And who can tell the beneficial influence to the Zion- 
ward journeyer, when persons of all ranks, character. 



30 tabor; or, till: ci.ass-mi:ktixg. 

and ages, unite to testify that " the same Lord over all 
is rich in mercy unto all them that call upon him'" 
Perhaps there is an aged pilgrim who for years has 
walked and fainted not. Many a hill of difficulty has 
he climbed, many a valky of humiliation has he trod- 
den — he baa tales to tell of wary walkings on enchanted 
ground — of hair-breadth escape out of the net of the 
Flatterer — aye, and of ravishing prospects for the 

Delectable mountains and from I of 

Pisgah ; and. while 1. and hi- \ 

falters, he tells also that lie has never repented his 

tting forth on pilgrimage, i nd that the pleasures are 

P, and \\ Irksome, than when, in youth, 

he grasped the palmer '1 strapped on the Bandals. 

Is it nothing to be favored with the testimo uch 

an pne, and to Bit under dow with delight! t<> 

have our rash judgm< 1 by hie exp< 

and our faith confirmed b; rdors of his imperish- 

able ho] e I Tii. -v.- ifi a yo .vert there, i( may be, 

who !:;. I q wonderful - 

" from darl . and from the pow< >r or Satan 

unto God," II bund - peace and joy in bell 

ing;" and the new-found gladness that is within him 
in brighter blue, and decks the earth 
with bonni; ad, blushing at his own fervor, te 

pours forth in i : . I M B (l f prai 

The old man hi 1 is reminded of the days erf I 

first love— il is Like a Bnatch of the music thai used to 
thrill the soul of yore, and, in a moment, memory H 



l kBOH ; OK, l ill. I i I • Mi.i i ON*. 87 

painted the Brs1 conviction — the early struj the 

donbl thai harassed his young mind -the triumph 
with which he hailed its departure — and, above all, the 
mtful moment when joy broke through his swimming 
a he believingly said, " My Fatherl" Who b< 
not the mutual and glorious benefit — the young 
instructed by the experience of the aged — the aged 
charmed and quickened by the enthusiasm of the 
young. And then there is one sympathy on this head 
which it would be unpardonable in us to omit, and that 
is the sympathy of prayer. Who can be lonely or 
despairing, even in this wilderness world, with the con- 
that there are hearts praying for him? 
hearts of those who are animated by similar hopes, and 
depressed by similar fears, and who are bound by their 
membership to " make intercession for " the household 
of faith u according to the will of God?" My friends, 
if there were no other disadvantage in your present 
anomalous position as aloof from the church of Christ, 
than this — that by your separation you deprive yourself 
of the church's prayi rs — there is a fearfulness in the 
thought which might well cause you to reflect and 
tremble. Desolate indeed is the spirit — cursed as the 
dewless hills of GiTboa — for which no prayer ascends, 
on whose behalf no knee is bowed to heaven. Rich in 
ary is poverty's poorest child, if his portion is the 
supplication of the faithful ! Happy the lonely watcher 
upon the gallant vessel's deck, if over the waste of 
waters the wife of his bosom prays | Never is a heart 



38 TABOR ; OR, THE CLASS-MEETING. 

orphaned, or divorced utterly from hope and heaven, if 
in some extremest corner there rises one yearning 
spirit's prayer. And if individual prayer can do so 
much, what must be the effect of many i My friends, 
we would be almost content to re6t the whole matter 
here, this one advantage w«»uld so overwhelmingly con- 
strain your decision. Bold indeed must von be in selt- 

.lideiicc, in infatuation, in six, if you refusfc to avail 

of tlie sympathy of prayer, oh! by SJH 

motive which yonr Bonis will acknowl< having 

either Bactednesi or power, yon are adjured, against the 

evil day, to insure for yourselves the "effectual fervent 

pra\ 

V. 7 ' ( ' M \ip t — Every 

believer ill called I <i. 5 ou cannot ha\ e 

forgotten how largely our Saviour impressed upon 
inn. the duty ol beinj tned 

of him,' him in the Bighl of DDK 

You will aldo recoiled how tJ tie of the (^entiles 

ma! ion td be on a parallel with faith in thai 

memorable pa- . "It' thou Bhall m wUk thy 

mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that 
( ted hath raised him from the dead, thou shah bt saved. 
For with the heart man believeth unto righteouttn 
and with the mouth co i modi u\ 

Sucli confession cannot be adequately made either by 
mere verbal acknowledgment or exemplary obedience, it 
can only be made by a Bolemn dedication "to God's 
people according to his will." Your solitary li wi1 



MB08 : 08, 1 B < 90 

tf obedi >r of faith, is losl like an invisible atom in 

. it is the unii < of each particle, in itself in 
uificant, that constitutes the ^ * < - 1 < » 1 1 < 1 of witn< i 
which the world can see. Ask yourselves, we pi 
you, whether this is nol jusl the element that is lacking 
in your religious decision. Y<>u are desirous to lee 
wrath to come — you have yielded in Borne 
measure to religious influence — you arc endeavoring to 
"square your useful lives below by reason and by 
•c " — you have even felt at times some emotions of 
religious joy, and yet you are not permanently happy. 
Whyfl Because you have been, pardon the word, 
traitorous to the grace of God, in that, like Hezekiah of 

.. you have not "rendered again according to the 
benefit done unto you." Oh, remember how seriously 

i peril, by your present conduct, the interests of your 

souls ! You are like a venturous traveller, who plunges, 

unaided and alone, into the tangled, thicket, whose every 

may covert a robber. You are like a ship that has 

voyaged from the fleet, and forsaken the convoy, and it' 

storm should arise, where are the friendly hands to 
launch the life-boat, or to rescue the perishing! You 
like a soldier, who, confiding in his own prow< 

ana the discipline of the regiment, and passes Bingly 
through the armies of the aliens, and if he should be 

prised and stricken, where are the generous comrades 
to cover his retreat, or bear him from the held, or 
H bind up his wound-, pouring in oil and wine P Nay, 
friends, for we can hesitate no Longer; we must deliver 



40 TAEOR ; OR, THE III Mil !!■■■■■ 

our soul — God REQUIRES this public dedication. fie 
must not only have the enlightened approval of the 
head, and the Loyal allegiance of the heart, but the 
cordial bmbraa ofihi ha/ul ; and we dare not retrain 
from the expression of an opinion, founded, we believe, 
upon the requirementa of the law of God, that ai long 
you keep aloof from his people, and are not united 
wit' branch of Lble church, you an v 

. —YOU ai:i: in i»an»,i:i:. 

We believe in the pr -'air of the antagonist 

armiee of truth and error — N U lity 
M He \h A for us and the tran.Mtion 

vi rv natural one to the belief thai ' 'on with 

\of ( hi 

to sahxMtion, We neither limit nor specify — Gk)d forbid 

that we Bhould trammel ti m — but 

arted tiethodi ta, Methodists from MHmakfon 

. we Bhould be guiltily wrong it* we dared 

not recommend our own. 

It is not our business, i; our wish b 

pro ould nol descend from our elevation, 

we w<»uld nut leave our vantage-ground to do it. - We 
have not bo learned Christ' 3 With other churches we 
have no qnarreL We regard them — all who hold tho 
head— as "houses of the Lord," and heartily do #e 
wish them Gk)d speed. M Let there be no strife beta 
our herdmen and theirs." But we differ imminabai in 
our notions of spiritual agriculture, and haply it is our 

vocation to reclaim some Waste lands that thev would 



i U ; OB, i in: I L \ 1G. II 

not think worth the tillage. STou will nol blame us, 
therefore, if while we <!<> no! disparage their communion. 
we prefi r our own. Broad principles of pi 1 i Ian t hropy, 
however expansive, never root oat the love of home. 

He is a churl, who cannot warm himself at any hearth 

bill bis «»wn; and he LS only half a man, who 18 DOt, 

r all, loudest iii praise of his own ingle nook, and of 
the oomfortable blaze thai mantles from his own fire. 
I pon you we have a claim. You arc haunted by no 

EMOTUples as to the validity of our orders, or the purity 
rf OUT doctrines. By your attendance upon our minis- 
try, you have accorded us your free and generous pre- 
h ivnce. " If we are not apostles unto others, yet 
we are apostles unto you." Be no longer 
outer court worshippers. Bind yourselves to us by a 
tenderer tie. Come into our church. Approach the 
inner shrines of our worship. Attach yourselves to OXU* 
Glass-Meetings, and you will find them to he as the 
- upper room," renowned for the rushing wind and for 
the cloven tongues of flame. 

Now, dear friends, what is your decision? Bring all 
your objections, all the thousand excuses which the 
unwilling heart coins: the fear of man — the incon 

Bsors — the dread of ridicule — the appre- 
hension of falling — the repugnance to declare God's 

dings with you; weigh them in the balance of the 

Ciliary, and ask yourselves, 1 entreat you, in the 

name of God, and under the impression of his eye, 

* Shall I deem these apologies sufficient in the article 



42 rABOSj OB, (HI GLASS-MBCHN 

of death, and when the light of eternity shall flash upon 
the doings of time P 5 

Dear fri . 1 lie a Idress has been 

written in many weaknesses, and in much paayer. 

K ad it in a similar spirit, an l cy 

to ach yon his will. 

i\ law of 1 being. 

The autograph of d< c graven apon temple, and 

tower, and tin , Our friends have tailed and fallen in 

; Lost a friend I!' Otyrael 
Be who wrij jon who 

- h will I Already the 

broad shadow of eternity lo ;nnder that 

I . Everj thing around you 

of the 

elaini. ] wr 

fathomi lie human 1 

onward, 
■the bl 
of ( ristia amnion — the helpfulness of rich and 

mi-.. I , ,1 — 

all, as with tl: many v well tic 

fulness of our last appeal, which we now fling forth 
upon your ii with pom r : 

" ( KB W ITB I WJi \\ ML ! jH j. 

i BATS 



* rr.Nsuovs SERMONS. 

I. 

MEMORIES OF THE WAY. 

u And thou shalt remember all the way whieh the Lord thy God led 
thee there forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove 
thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep hid 
commandments, or no." — Dkut. viii. 2. 

A peguuae solemnity would be attached to these 
words in their original utterance, especially in the mind 
of the person who uttered them, for they were spoken 
under the shadow of approaching departure. Last 
words are proverbially impressive, and these were 
among the last words of the veteran Moses to the peo- 
ple of his charge and love. There had grown in his 
heart a strong affection for the children of Israel during 
his forty years' administration of their affairs. lie had 
watched over them witli fatherly tenderness, and had 
guided them through the intricacies of the desert) to the 
borders of the promised land. Often had he been 
wearied by their murmuring-, often had lie been pro- 
yoked by their unbelief, lie had been alternately the 



44 m: ov THI way. 

object of their mistrust and of their mniidmce, of their 
jealousy and of their enthusiasm, and yet their yi 
waywardm I the more warmly Uj rnd^ar 

them; and, with a love stroi li, he loyed 

;u unto the end. Aware that, by hia unadvised 

f Meribahj he had barred his 

OWJ I I w itii a 

for the welfan -. r as the r 

o drew athered them upon 

plai] M . 'id in solemn and weighty words iv- 

*ed the path they had trod, warned them 

their besetting daj them to fidelity in 

I 
wordfl of t] 

to take a ]!!• ntal | pack which 

they had i . < icial 

i it 

b conducts d in pi L to 

that vfi 
We profital the 

ael in t! w of tl w li it-li they 

bad trod ; v in their con pai j v. I 

fn order tliat 

III- 
brai the wa; >ndly, the pur] 

providence in the journey ; and, thirdly, the wtfl erf 
the memory. 



mi 8C0BT1 9 OF mi: w Lf. 16 

'. In the first place, the remembrance ot the way. 
"TIhui shall remember all the way which the Lord thy 
Sod hath led thee these forty years in the wildern* 
It is a wonderful faculty, this faculty of memory. 1 i 
••icts seem to be of the nature of miracles wroughl con- 
tinually for the conviction of Unbelief. We cannot 
expound its philosophy, nor tell its dwelling-place, nor 
riame the subtle chords which evoke it from its slum- 
bers. A snatch of music in the street, the sight of a 
modest flower or of an old tree, a word dropped casu- 
ally by a passer-by, a face that flits by us in the hurry- 
ing crowd, have summoned the gone years to our side, 
and filled us in a moment with memories of divinest 
comfort or of deepest sorrow. The power of memory is 

ing and is influential. A kindness has been done in 
secret ; but that seed, dropped into the soil of memory, 
has borne fruitage in the gratitude of years. A harsh 
word or an inflicted injury, flung upon the memory, 
has rankled there into lawlessness and into sin. No 
man can be solitary who has memory. The poorest of 
us, if he have memory, is richer than he knows, for by 
it we can reproduce ourselves, be young even when the 
limbs arc failing, and have all the past belonging to us 
when the hair is silvery and the eyes are dim. How 
can he be a skeptic or a materialist, for whom memory 

ry moment raises the dead, and refuses to surrender 
the departed years to the destroyer; communes with 
the loved ones though the shroud enfolds them; and 
Converses with cherished voices which for long years 



46 MEMORIES OF THE WAT. 

have never spoken with tongues I I had almost said, 
but that I know the deep depravity of the human hearty 
how can he sin who has memory i For though the mm* 
derer may stab his victim in Becret, far from living wit 
nesses, and may carefully remove from the polluted earth 
the foul traces of his crime, memory is a witness that he 
can neither gag nor stifle, and he bears about with him 
in his own temble consciousness the blasted immor- 
tality of his ' < >h, it is a rare and a divine 
lowmentl Memories of sanctity or sin pervade all 
the firmament of being. There is but the flitting 
moment in which to hope or to enjoy, but in the calen- 
dar of memory that moment is all time, This, then, is 
faculty which the Jewish law-giver calls up into 
: W T1 on halt remember all the way which the 
Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the 
wilderness." And in truth ti ild he no grander 

"i-v, nor one richer in instruction, than tin 

Prom the time when tin aned in bondage, and 

their cry went nj> unto God, Until ttOW, when, after 

forty j( j, theystood upon ti ihbld of 

the land of Canaan, each day would have it- wonder and 

its lesson. They had been led by a way which they knew 
not; they had Been the laws of nature suspended, and 
the mechanism of the firmament disorganized <>n their 
behalf In Egypt they had quailed beneath ti. 
Omnipotence which had delivered them, and they had 

.ehed trembling at the base Of Sinai, Whfl< and 

anon loomed through the darkness the flashings forth 



MKMOUIKS ov I in; WAY. 17 

of the Divinity within. Sustained bj perpetual tnira- 

. delivered with an outstretched arm, with the bar- 

- behind and the plenty before them, they were 

the way which the Lord had led them in 

the wilderness." 

Brethren, our own, if we will only think of it, 
in an instructive history. There is much in the life 
q| each of us, in its rest, and in its change, in its 
hazard, and in its deliverance, which wiU repay us if 
We feviail ii to-day, r>e it ours to recall the past, to 
recover the obliterated circumstance, to abide again at 
each halting-place of our journey, to decipher the 
various inscriptions which the lapse of time lias fretted 
almost to decay, to remember^ as the Israelites, the way 
which the Lord hath led us. 

1. There ,would be in their history, in the first place, 

nee of favor ', and ly consequence of joy. 

All through their course they had had very special 

ions of the power and goodness of God. lie 

had brought them out with a high hand from the pride 

ranny of Pharaoh, he had cleared a path for 

through the obedient waters, the heavens had 

rained down sustenance, the rock had quenched their 

thirst ; Jehovah's presence had gone with them 

through the tangled desert path, by day in guiding 

cloud, by night in lambent flame; their raiment had 

• waxed old upon them, neither their foot swelled, 

for forty year-. He had spoiled their enemies in 

their sight. Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, 



48 mi:moi:ii:5 OF Tin-: way. 

king of Baakan, had fallen before his power. AVhen 
the law-giver gathered the tribes in the plains of 
Moab, he could Bay: "Mot one thing of all that the 

Lord your God, hath I hath ever failed J ,J and 

there was not a murmur in the host, and then was not 

an individual in tl • :<>n that could cither irain- 

>r deny. 

Brethren, tl fail to be great and grateful 

rejoicing in this renu >e of the Loving kinds 

of the LorcL That loving kindness has compttssed in 

from the firrt I ace until now, and 

by his favor he hath mad. rantain to stand strong. 

I would call up b in your 

history npon which you i to dwell with joyous 

tad fed memory . Think of tl Provi- 

denre who eared for your in1 , and who prevented 

yoi i] j in youth ; thi delii Bar 

onces, the unlooked-for ingwith which 
you have b ited ; pause bei 

of help which y0U have | in the COUTBe trf your 

journey; remember the Btores of gladness inexliaust- 
ible and constantly operating, thai have been poured 
upon you by the bounty of j , \y Father j the 

joy of your heart, the j< liar to youi . the 

natural and inevitable v.- of childhood 3 

- aid glee, the joy of enlarging knowledge, the ; 
some new discovery of the beautiful, of boj nee 

thirst after the true; the joy of travel, the stgbi itf 

earth's , fair landscapes, and BpotS renowned 



mi M<>i:ii: Ol mi: WAT. !'.♦ 

in song and story; the joy of home, of parents w' 
1<>\< ast a spell upon your after-lives, from which 

you would not be disenchanted if you could- brother. 

ami sister, and wife, and husband, names thai mean 

more t<> the heart, a thousand-fold, than they can ever 

mean t<> the ear; friends that knew you and that umh-r- 

, those twin soul.- who bore with your weak- 
without chiding, and who entered into your 

dreams with sympathy. The }^y of meetings, and of 

•wells, and of that which came between more sweet 
than each. The joy of the Church ; victory over some 
og temptation ; glad seasons of Christian fellow- 
ship, which can never be forgotten ; sermons that 

med, in their exquisite adaptedncss, as if they had 
been made for you, to counsel in perplexity, to comfort 
in trouble; sacramental occasions when, in no distem- 
pered vision, you "saw heaven opened, and the Son 
anding upon the right hand of the throne of 
( tod." The joy of usefulness, the gladness which thrilled 
through you when you succored the distressed, or were 
valiant for the truth, or pitied and reclaimed the erring, 

lung the garment of praise over some bewildered 

if heaviness. The joy that has sprung for you 

out of sorrow, and has been all the brighter for the con- 

ll ; deliverance from danger which threatened to be 
imminent, recovery from Bickness that seemed a- though 
it were about to be mortal; the lightnings that have let 
the glory through the cloud.-; the flowers that you have 
so often plucked from tombs. Call up the mighty sum 

3 



50 MEMORIES Of Tin; WAY. 

of gladness now, and as, subdued and grateftd in tlio 
memory, you think of your past times, many a lip 
will quiver and many a heart he full, afi you pemm** 
for the way which the Lord hath led you in the wil- 
der! 

2. There Would, Becondly, he in their history tli 

• of .sin. andy by consi qyu . //<• r - 

membrana qf sorrow. Nothing is more remarkahle as 
a fact, and more illustrative of the depravity of the 
human . than the frequency with which the child- 

ren of ferae! Only thre< after die won- 

derful int' • the Red Sea, their murmurii 

began. Hie miracle al Marah, although it appeased 
their thirst ir confidence, for they 

W rife. Although 

manna fell without ceasi . they lusted after the 
lies! 

-I'd of perpetual sin, >w into 

into unhelief, 
and now, , | • The* 6 tr:m- 

, introduced them to sorrow^ and 
they suffered, in almost every v the Btro 

ore. They were wasted by biicc( 
\ oured by fier 
in the wild : tl earth opened her mouth and 

allowed ap the rebellioi f Korah ; the E#rd 

i not forth witli their ! battle : and they I 

discomfited ami crestfallen before the face of thrir 
enemies. Their journey was made protracted and 



mi:\:. ■ .; i | in u \ v. 51 

dangerous. Bereavement visited every tent in turn. 
One after another the bead of each family bowed, and 
sunk, :nnl fill, until of all those who lefi E ta] 

wart and sinewy men, only tw<>, and those of another 
spirit, remained to enter into the land of promise and 
«.f ivm ; and the very lawgiver who called up the 
exercise of the memory, and the few old men, upon 
whose brows the almond tree was flourishing, thinly 
scattered here and there among the tribes, knew that 
their heads must bow, their frames dissolve in death, 
the van-standard of the host could he unfurled 

within the herders of the promised Land. There could 
net fail to be subdued and pensive emotion in this 
aspect of the remembrance of the way. Our own 
history has its sorrowful side, too, which it will be well 
fpr as to remember to-day. All sorrow, of course, 
Comes originally from sin, but there is some sorr 
which we inherit from no personal transgression, but 
which has been handed down to us, a sad entail of 

Ferine:, a disastrous transmission from our curliest 
fathers. The remembrance of such sorrows stretches 
far back in the history of every one's life. Perhaps 
you were cruelly treated in youth, and you can hardly 
think of it now without shuddering. Perhaps some 
bitter disappointment made your path ungenial, or 

oe early unkindness came like a frost-blight upon 

. young hopes, jusl when yon were beginning 

to indulge them. Perhaps a long sickness chained you 

down, and you suffered the illness of hope deferred. 



MEMORIES OF THK WA\. 

and vou wondered whether the cheek would ever bl. 
again in the ruddiness of health, and whether tl. 

poise would ever bound and swell through the veins. 
Perhape there arc other memories — most likely there 

arc IT darkm BS I all the 

into a relict' of l< i breaking up 

that swept \ ou into oorpban- 

d, ''T that : j -air ej es with a 

. "l- that 
for work and bread. Call up these m< . though 

the heart I J . think of them. They 

he summoned far the 
memory in — 

*t hide 

. but in Loe and 

to the Btrivings of the 

II • w ith which v<»u 

..■ 
to the of a mo ' The 

your youtl . humbly trual are pa*- 

doned by the j i .-t ill, like the 

i many 

a change of w . Four unfaithfulness sii 

Loi ' ■ BUT e..n\ er 

in things you dared not for your lives bave done w] 
you were mercy* How you have cherished 

Borne secret idol, or forborne to deliver them thai 
drawn to death, or dwelt in your ceiled houses, intent 
only upon you o grandizemeni and pleatturttj 



Ml UORH 9 01 1 III w LY. 

while tlu 4 house of God lay waste, Call np tin 
memories, do nol disguise them ; they will bow jrou in 
humility before I rod. 

This is the memory of the way. "Thou shall re- 
member all the way which the Lord thy God hath led 
thee." AH the way — it is necessary thai all the way 

uld be remembered — the hill of difficulty as well i 
the valley of humiliation, the time of prosperity as well 
AS the time of pain. Necessary for our advantage that 
we may understand our position, learn the lessons of 
providence and grace; necessary that we may con- 
Struct a narrative, for every event in our history is con- 
nected and mutually interpreted; necessary that we 
may trace the outworking of Jehovah's plan in the 
ive achievements of our lives. And if by the 
memory of joy you are impressed with God's benefi- 
cence, kept in cheerful piety, and saved from the foul 
sin of repining; and if by the memory of sorrow you 
are molded into a gentler type, taught a softer sym- 
pathy, and receive a heavenward impulse, and antici- 
pate a blessed reunion; if by the memory of sin you 
are reminded of your frailty, and rebuked of your 
pride, stimulated to repentance and urged to trust in 
God — then it will be no irksomeness, but a heaven-sent 
and precious blessing that you have thus "remembered 
way that the Lord hath led thee in the wilder? 

II. I come, secondly, to notice the PURPOSES OF 1 )ivi.\k 
Providence in the journey. These are stated to he 



54 MBMOBiES OF llli: WAY. 

three: u to humble thee and to prove thee, to know 
what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep 
his commandments or no." The passage tells as that 
in all ( I children i ft brael, whether 

he corrected them in judgment or enriched them with 
bounty, there were purposes at work — purposes of spi- 
ritual discipline, intended to induce irching and 
the improven* and liV4 
1. T ken of i 

i humble thee." Every evenl in 

their deliv • ir j.a.-saire 

through tin' wild* calculated t" show tl. 

their own . , jtanl dependence 

What c.uld 
human might ln\ I for them in the way of 

from J Their 

; the in>:i had not 

only gyred their limbs, it had ( ,ul. 

They had n fchem, to 

lom : and if t: 

were a p< $4. 

trustful her, that it would have beeta hut a 

im of frantic rebellion, which would h fed 

. 1 upon 

themsd : a more bitter boi When 

the permission for departure was wiling reluctantly 

fr° m tllP Plaj Whal COIlld human 

might have availed for them, when he repeated of his 

•id pursued after them in Imt 



MKMoUlKS o| Mil M 

. and they were on the borders of the Red S 
with the gianl waves barring their pr . and a h< 

of ferocious enemies behind? Everything in their i 
patience taughl them their dependence apon God. 
\ were led through a region that no adventurer 
bad ever explored, do fool had ever trod. Wlien they 
ched their tents at eventide, they knew nol al what 
hour they Bhould Btrike them, nor whether they should 
ike them at all; there might be forced years of en- 
tpment in that one spot; there might he forced 
marches and rapid progress; bat they had no control 
or it : as the pillar went, and wherever the pillar 
it, they went; and as they sounded forth their 
y of praise, there was not a man in the whole 
ion that could tell through what rocky eh 
or woody defiles the echoes of the vesper hymn would 
;:id. Their supply was as miraculous as their gnid- 
No plough had turned up the soil, no river nim- 
by their side, they had never gazed for forU 
ars upon one solitary blossom of the spring-time, nor 
had the golden grain ever once in their sight bent 
;ily to the sickle of the reaper: they were fed 
with manna, which they knew not. 

u Win D fiint they wero and parched with drought, 

Water at his word gushed out." 

Oh! it is the world's grandest illustration of man's 

absolute feebleness and of God's eternal power. 600,000 

ting men, beside women and children, led by Divine 



66 Ml.M BIBB OF HiK WAV. 

Leadership, and fed by Divine bounty, for tin s of 

forty years. Brethren, the dealings of Providenfee with 
ourselves are intended to show us our dependence upeft 
God, and to humble as in the dust under bis taighty 
hand. We arc very proud, sometimes, and we talk 
about <>ur endowm largely of whal We 

have done, and what we intend to do; but we can do 

] .. BOOB can 

be bring it down I The well-endowed heritage — how 

n <-an lie scatter it ! Hie mental glance, keen and 
piercing-— how Boon can lie bring upon it the dinn 

and bewildern rs! We cannot, any one of 

« « 

n e cannot, any one t»i' 

DS, sustain 0U1 in hoi: a moment. Ala- ! 

who of u^ (-in stay the spirit, when the summons has 

thai it must die I We are free ; we cannot 

g that v. ; and 3 e1 we can as little 

help feeling that our i bounded, thai it lias a 

horizon, something thi ites a watchful Providence 

tside. II"". often have we aimed at building for 

oureeli i mbrancc and of rest, and 

we ha\ 1 upon the building joyfully as it ]>n>- 

gressed to completion, and then the breath of the Lord 

has blown upon it, and it has been scattered, and wd 

have been turned adrift and shelterless; and, loi 

dwellings already provided for us of firmer mi 

and of more excellent beauty, upon which wc bestowed 

no labor nor thought And so it is with all the mfcti 

of human glory. The Strong man rejoieeth in his 



•>n UORIES OF nil. WAY, 

emrth. and magnifieth himself in the mighl of bis 
arm.-, but the Lord hath made him strong; the wi 
man glorifietli Uimself in his intellect but the clear por- 
tion, and the brilliant fancy, and the fluent utter- 
ance, these are God's gifts; the rich man rejoiceth in 
-. but the prudence to plan, and the sagacity to 
see, and the industry to gather, these are the bestow- 
uRsits of God, 

Ah! why will men sacrifice to their own net, and 
bum incense to their own drag, when they have abso- 
lutely nothing which they have not received ; and 
when every gift eonieth from the Father of light, with 
whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turn- 
ing \ And in the realm of morals, and in the spiritual 
life, our feebleness is the same. A conscience void of 
, a good report of those, that are without a 
heavenly purpose or a holy resolve, the inner purifica- 
i or the comely outgrowth of a beneficent life — we 
poor to compass them. A\ r e acquire them only by 
our dependence upon God. Have you learned this 
lesson, this deep, hard lesson of humility i Forty years' 
sins you have committed ! have they humbled you in 
the pr< of God? Forty years' chastening have 

corrected you ! have they humbled your pride or fretted 
v«»n into greater audacity of rebellion J Forty years 9 
mercies have blessed you ! have they excited your 
ititude or inflated your vanity \ Brethren, we must 
be humbled, if we would be happy. It wan in the 
Valley of Humiliation, you remember, that the lad that 



5S MEMoRIKS OF THE WAY. 

bad the herb heart'a-ease in his bosom kept his serem 
and his rejoicing home, 

2i Then the second purpoc rod's providence in 

the journey is to jm r« The idea seems to be, that 

.illi'ul chemist employs testa for the purpose of ;ma- 
Lysis, and I rer the composition of that vhieh he 

examines, bo I tod us< - the occurrences of Life as a moral 
touc the tendencies and iiu-lmat ; 

of man. Thus we read God did tempt, teat, try, prove 

raham, requiring from liim a sacri and 

apparently cruel, in order thai he might know the 

agth of hia servant's faith, and erf his filial foan 
The : circui i is the 

history of the children of Israel. They wefre bested l»y 
their m g the manna insipid, I 

lusted after th< pt; they were tested by 

their duties; they were tested by their calamiti< 
\i i B I in the conflicts with the 1 

Amalek. They w by their oompaniona, 

when they formed unholy League with ftlidiamta idola- 
d brought upon themselves that swift destraetioa 
which Balak wished for, but which the cowardly Balaam 
dared not for his life invoke. Brethren, God has his 
crucible atilL In our past lives we shall find circum* 
stances that have tried ourselves, and we hhall rem 
her the results of the trial Bometimes with dei 
L r ratitW' tier with unfeigned shame. Our aiilic- 

tions have tried us, and we have thought thai wo have 
done well to be angry, and we have arraigned the j 



mi M"i;u S OF in:, w ay. 59 

rf God at the bar of our limited reason (solemn 
mockery of judicature t) when, perhaps, the reflection 
if tomorrow would have approved what the distrust of 
lay was so ready to condemn. Our duties have tried 
a* We banre felt the shrinking of the flesh, and the 
result has been sometimes their reluctant and sometim< s 
their spiritless discharge. Other people have been 
unjust (»r unkind tons: we have met with ingratitude 
01 with treachery; our own familiar one, in whom we 
tented, lias betrayed us; slander lias been busy belch- 
ing oat her calumnies against our fair fame; all tb 
things have tested our patience, our endurance, our 
meekness, our long-sufiering, and, like Moses, we have 
ken unadvisedly, or, like the disciples, we have had 
t" pray, "Lord, increase our faith," before we could 
the large and princely idea of forgiveness to 
v times seven. Often companionships have tried 
. and we have shown how small has been our self- 
!ance and how easily we have taken the hue and 
mold of the society in which we were thrown, and how 
a pointed linger, or a sarcastic laugh, or a lip scornfully 
curled, can shame the manhood out of us, and make us 
py cowards in resisting evil, or in bearing witness for 
d. Thus have we been, thus has God proved us in 
wilderness, and if we arc in earnest for heaven, and 
if we have in any measure profited by the discipline, we 
shall be thankful for the trial. Placed as we arc in n 
binful world, exposed to its every-day influences, 
whether of good or evil, we need a piety which can 



CO |CEMOBI£8 OF CHE WAY. 

maintain itself ID all circumstances, and under ewrv 
pressure. The trial will be a matter of choice, preferred 
by every godly and valiant Christian 6oldier. He 
feelfi that were an inglorious heaven that \ 

w«>n with" orifice and without a toil; he knows 

that tlie pn t that lie shall ]>a>> through the 

wild without the Bight of an enemy ; it is a hi 

promise than that — that we .-hail never Bee an enemy 
that we cannot master, and that bj God'g can- 

not oompletelj i id he had rather don his 

armor for a foeman v . \\>r an enoniy 

that will aj prove I :' and >how the 

I aptaiD ol ion, than he would 

der to | apparelli 

holiday review, OhI believe me, the piety which 
world ae< ds, which the i which we 

inn • WOQld It apprO\ i d of our ( . ri-a t. 

(faster, inn be that sicklj Bentimentality which 

on otl . and di :ial and mocal 

problems whil< in Sion ; it poast he tfre 

hard ition, robust tram healthy 

. ben it is climbing op the 

, and has the breeae frojn 

tirring amid its waving hair ; 

happy, will it be for yon if, as the 

, you can d did, 

" I d my heart and thou 1,, mr 

in the ; : tried me and shall find imthi 

I am purpo : my heart .-hall i. 



mi \!"i;ii J OF i Fir: w LY. 61 

eerr.ing the works of men; l>v the word of thy lips 
I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." 
3. Ami then tlu* third purpose of Providence in the 
" to Jcftow what was in thin* heart -whether 
thou woulde8l keep ln's commandmente or no." Ifce 
human hearl is a microcosm — a little world, containing in 
itself all the strifes, and all the hopes, and ail the fears, 
and all the ventures of the larger world outside. The 
human hearl ! who ran unravel its mystery, or decipher 

its hidden law! The smile may play upon the lip, 
while beneath there is the broken, burning heart; and, 

die other hand, the countenance may have shadow 
of anxiety, while the sunlight dances gaily on the soul. 
The human heart! Human knowledge can give us very 
little acquaintance with it; such knowledge is too won- 
derful for man; it is high, and he cannot attain unto it; 
but there is One who knows it, and knows all its tortuous 
policy, and all its sinister motive, and he is anxious that 
we sh<»uld know it, too, and one purpose of his provi- 
dential dealings with us is, that we may know what is 
in our heart ; and yet of all sciences none is so difficult 

attainment as this same science of self-knowledge. 
Whether it be from the deceitfulness of the object of 
study, or whether it be from the morbid reluctance, 
aflmost amounting to f< ar, with which men shrink from 
acquaintance with themselves, there are few that have 
the bravery to pray, "Lord, make me to know myself/' 
Indeed, it were a hideous picture if it were Buddenly 
unveiled in the presence of us all. When the Lord 



02 MEMORIES OF THE WAY. 

would show Ezekiel the abominations of Jerusalem, he 
led him through successive chambers of imagery, upon 
the walls of which were portrayed their loathsome and 
unworthy doings. All! it' our enormiti be be 

thus tapestried ill our sight, who of us could hear tlie 
disclosure! There was deep self-knowledge and drop 
humility in the word of the old reformer, who, when he 
a criminal led off amid the jeer8 of the multitinh 

be banged a1 Tyburn, turned around >id ; 

M There, but for tl • John Brad- 

L w Ih( I • eiy ail' i< >n of what can 

lurk ui. in the human heart, in the Bth chapter 

of K' • : - : " A- i I . ime to 

Damascus; and Ben-hadad, tl Syria, was sick ; 

and it was told him. man i . 'inr 

hither. And the king said on . • a pre* 

in thine hand, and L r ". meel the f God, and in- 

quire of the Lord by him, w er of this 

I B i I [aza* I i • him, and took a ; 

Bent with him, 1 taoai 

v camels' burden, and od before him, 

and said, '1 ;. hath Benl 

me to thro. Baying, Shall 1 recover of this dis( And 

Elisha Baid unte him, Go, say unto him. Thou may 
certainly recover. [The d If is nol fated to 

destroy thee; there is no decree of that kind]. 1 1 owl nit 
the Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die. 
An<l he Bettled hie countenance steadfastly, until 
ashamed) and the man of God wept And Ilazael said, 



re way. 58 

Why weepeth my lord! And he answered, Because I 
kn.>w the evil thai thou will do auto the children of 
I ;h-l ; their strongholds wilt thou Bed on lire, and their 
i will thou slay with the Bword, and wilt dash 
their children, and rip up their women with child. 
And Uazael -aid [shocked at the bare mention of such 
atr< . Bui what, is thy servant a dog, that he 

uld do tins great thing?" But, as the old divine 
(jiiaintly >ay>, "the dog did it after all." Brethren, 
there lurks this danger in us all; there is no superiority 
of character in ourselves; there is no tinner power of 
resistance to evil. In our unaided strength we are no 
better tort i tied against the extremes of iniquity than 
many around us who now wallow in the atrocities of 
crime. That speculative merchant, whose affairs had be- 
ne hopelessly embarrassed, and who, in the vain hope 
of retrieval, plied the too ready pen of the forger, and 
in that sad moment forfeited the probity of years — how 
-ad mibt have been his reflections when, to use his own 

ressive words, he "agonized on," when he thought 
that he should transmit to his children nothing but the 
heritage of a blasted name, and that those children 
Would have an up-hill struggle all the way through life, 
their own blamelessness being a small matter against 
the terrible opprobrium of their father's misdoings. ITe 
who continues in the feast until wine inflames him, im- 
that he can tread without danger upon the giddy 
\vr jv o\vr which multitudes have fallen ; but, by little 

and little, he cherishes the unappeasable thirst for drinfc 



61 MEMORIES Oh THE WAV. 

until it becomes a morbid physical malady, and, frantic 
and despairing, he rushes down into the drunkard's 
grave. That youth who, at the solicitation of afroja g 
companion, ventures, for the first time, into the luul hell 
of a gaming-house, and who joins in the perilous hazard, 
would Bcoif at the prophet who should tell him that, a 
few years hence, a gambler and a spendthrift, he BhouJd 
live in poverty and die in shame. That young man 
who, to gain : rhaps, for the Sunday excursion, 

or for the night's debauch, took the money from his 
master's till with ti i erf rcplac- 

ing it a1 of the quarterly supply, little thought 

that that deceitful heart of his would land him in a 
felon's dock, or, upon th< of the transport ship, 

wafl him to a return] from I try and 

his home. Brethren, from a thousand causes of i 

and of .-ha 1 ran furnish ns, 

and which we read in the hi every-day life* it 

becomes d . y jealousy watching over our euro 

heart-, to guard a the beginnings of evil ; and as 

we think of blighted repnl and of ruined bope 

of many once fair, and innocent, and scrupulous, and 
promising as we as we gaze upon the wreck of many 
a gallant vessel stranded by our side, which we saw 
ming out of the harbor with Btately penm I ns 

remember that in us there are the Bame tendencies 
evil, that it is grace— only grac< — which hath made as 

to differ, and that each instance Of calamity and fif sin, 

while it evokes our pity — not our .-corn — for those that 



Ill; WAY. 

l:a\ ed, should proclaim in solemn ad 

to ourseh c . M I .el him thai thinketh he 
:i take heed lost he rail." "To know whal is in 
thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his command- 
ments or no." 

III. [f you have thus travelled in the way thai you 
have trodden, there will be many uses of.the mkmori 
which we cannot Btay to particularize to-day. You will 
know more of God at the conclusion of your visit than 
i did at the commencement. You will behold in the 
way both the goodness and the severity of God — the 
fcrity which punishes sin wherever it is to be found, 
tli«- goodness which itself provides a substitute and finds 
a Saviour. Where do you not find him, rather? There 
ream gushing forth from the smitten rock — 
was there not \ — and the perishing and thirsty Israelites 
wire happy. "They drank of the rock that followed 
them, and that rock was Christ." There was the brazen 
serpent, the Bymbol of accepted propitiation in the wil- 
derness bf .-in. u As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so hath the Son of Man been lifted up, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, hut 
•aid hive everlasting life." Oh, as you gather up 
these memories — the memory of joy, the memory of 
row, the memory of sin — as you remember the good- 
ad the loving kindness of the Lord, his faithful- 
nesi to fulfil] his promises, his tenderness, which your 
repeated rebellions have not caused to fail — gather up 
yourselws in one earnest consecration of flesh and 



66 MEMOBna ov the wav. 

spirit, which I take to be the be6t consecratioo of the 

house which you now dedicate to God — living temples, 
pillars in the house of God, that shall go out no more 
forever. 



II. 

THE BELIEVER'S SUFFH IEXCY. 

M Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of our- 
selves ; but our sufficiency is of God.* 1 — 2 Corinthians, iii. 5. 

Tin: promise contained in these wordfl is one of the 
most encouraging and one of the most comprehensive 
in the Bible. It is the essence of all Christian expe- 
rience ; it is the moral which the Scriptures continually 
inculcate, and it stands in the heraldry of heaven as the 
motto on the believer's arms. The all-sufficiency of 

1 has been the support and comfort of the faithful in 
all ages of the Church. On this rock Abraham built 

hope; to this refuge in all. times of trial the sweet 

ger of Israel fled; by this confidence the great 
Apostle of the Gentiles was constantly and persever- 
ingly upheld. The all-sufficiency of God gives strength 
to patienc . - solidity to hope, gives constancy to 

Lurance, gives nerve and vitality to effort. The 

weakest believer, with this great treasure in ; ion, 

is enabled to go Bteadily forward, sacrificing no duty, 

resisting all sin; and, amidst every horror and every 

humiliation, feeling within him the still, clear light of 

n 



63 TIIE BELIEVER'S BCFFICIttNi V. 

life. To this the most eminent saints are indebted for 
all they enjoy, for all they are enabled to }>ertl»rm; and 
though assailed by various foes without, and by var : 
fears within, by this they can return from every Con- 
flict, bearing the spoils of victory; and as With tlie 
trophies of their triumph the} 1 the gratefhl Eb< 

zer, you may Bee this inscription written upon them all: 
" Having obtained help of God, we continue unto this 
day," feelii eply the impotency of the nature 

they inherit, and penetrated with the of the dilli- 

culties by wliich they are Burrounded. When faith 

int to this as a never-fail- 
ing source df ; h ; and in t! of their 
untried and unswerving pilj : ^ their Tan- 
• •• I ian, it' lie will be so fooli 

isi in ! .iii ; lei the ricli man glory in his 

alth ; lei ttn a vaunl wn dignity ; let 

the trifler world his i are ndt 

trn lies, v. e dare no1 build npon 

foundations thai i pably in We feel otfr 

own nothingness ; but we feel our own might, because 
our od. 

From the commencemenl of the chapter <>nt of which 

these words are taken, we learn that the same exeln- 

\ of spirit existed in the daw of Paid -which 

its in certain quarters DOW, and that th 
— that of false apoetleship — was brought against liim 

that has since been so plentifully flung at eminent 
ministers of Jesus Christ. It is no small consolation to 



BED b r. 69 

find that \w are thua unchurched in g I company. 

Tlu 1 apostle, however, answers the accusation just 
man would do, who bad qo particular interest i<> 

ve in surrounding a great question with a crowd of 

anything but Luminous — he appeals to the 

Church amongst whom he had labored, and asks their 

wnlir; as to his success as a minister: k * Do we begin 

lin to commend ourselves, or need we, as some 
others, epistles of commendation to you, or Letters of 
commendation from youJ Ye arc our epistle [your 
changed hearts, your holy lives, your transformed affec- 
tions, your heavenly deportment — ye are our epistles] 
written in our hearts, known and read of all men : for- 

iuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle 
of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink [nor 
anything bo fading], but with the Spirit of the living 

1 ; not in tables of stone [nor anything' so hard], but 
in fleshy tables of the heart; and such trust have we 
through Christ to Godward ;" then, so anxious is he 

n in this moment of his triumphant vindication to 
avoid all appearance of boasting, that he puts in a great 
disclaimer: " not that we are sufficient of ourselves to 
think anything of ourselves; all that, whether in us as 
subjects or by us as the instruments, has been done by 
the sovereign power of God, who also hath made us 
able ministers of the New Testament, nol of the letter, 
bur of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit 
The Apostle in these verses unfolds the 
great Becrel both of ministerial call and of ministerial 



70 THE BELIEVER'S SCFFICIENCY. 

efficiency. It is God, not man, that makes, not finds, 
aide ministers of the New Testament. The tones of his 
voice are heard, saying to them, "Son, go tfrork to-day 
in my vineyard." And it is a remarkable feet, one 
which we should never forget, that this voice is never 
heard in a heart where there is no faith ; consequently, 
the prime qualification for a minister of the (Christian 
religion is the heart that has been melted by its loVe, 
and a conscionsneefl which lias felt it in its power. 
Without this, all else is unavailing; the attainment of 
the most profound and extensive knowledge, the grasp 

of tin' loftiest and most scholarly intellect, the | 

D of the most commanding eloquence, the treasures 

of the most imperial fancy, the research of the n 
accomplished Bcholar, all these are u . worse than 

useless, it' they be not consecrated by the spirit of the 

Ih-ly One; only the trappings thai decorate the trail 

and make hi* treason yd the fouler; Only the weapons 

Of more imminent danger, and the portents of more 

terrific and appalling rrn. The most distinguished 

minister within the compass of the Catholic Church, 
however eminent he may he, however Mgnallv his 

labors have been blessed, has reason to remember* 

;y moment of his ministerial career, k% I am nothing, 

Less than nothing; hut my sufficiency is of Cod." The 

comfortable and scriptural doctrine contained in the 
text is not more true of ministers, of whom it vi 
immediately spoken, than of Christians in general, bo 

Whom it may be properly applied. He station 



Till Bl MKVKKS Bl i ii. 71 

Tent, tho strength ia the same. Four Buffi- 

well as ours, I- of God, To take the 

in this i xtended w use, we may find in them 

of profitable meditation, by considering firet 

the Datura of this sufficiency and then the authority 

ioh believers have to expect this sufficiency for 

tllCl! 

I. First, the sufficiency of God may be considi 
either a >mmi nicat] i>. By hi .tial, or 

proper sufficiency, we mean that lie La self-existent, self- 
suiiicicnt, independently happy; angels and men may 

khure that they cannot increase his glory; it is eter- 
nal, underived, perfect. He has said that lie will never 
e it to another. There was no necessity in his 
nature impelling him to create the universe ; lie could 
ha\ alone, and he did exist alone, long be- 

• the everlasting silence was broken by a human 
p, or interrupted by a human voice; and that 
I >i\ inr solitude was the solitude of matchless happiness. 
9, therefore, the most extensive services 
his worshippers, are but reflections of the glory 
which dwells originally in himself. But it is of the 
ttcy of God in relation to his creatures that it is 
our province especially to speak. And it is in this 
God is good to all, and his tender mercies are 
• all his works. 
1. lb- is sufficient, in the first place — let us take low 
it— for t rvation of tJk which 

hands ha From the sublime account 



72 THE UKLIEYErV SUFI riKXCY. 

which the Scriptures give us of creation; we learn that 

the heavens were made by him, and all the host of 

them by the breath of his month ; and as we know that 

■till v has within it the power to sustain itself, 

we are further assured that he npholdeth all things by 

the same word of his power. It is by this e\er-l>reath- 

ing word, i . that the sun Bhii 

that the moon walks in bri -, that ti - pursue 

3 : the clouds are marshalled by 

, and when lie uttereth his retee there 

is a multitude of \ in the h< 

Qtinuous Qlity, and 

adadrefl . jond 

. and argn< bically about the 

nature and fit ; but piety Loeka through 

tfce . to the liand that 

Died it. B e anil to her bnl one rtsi tn 

] a; . . ( . ..| ; ] lrr 

pathway and I muniou i bigh places of 

dary and Mib- 
frrdii te hiding of his ami 

T. ' natmv i beautiful, 

more tunefully upon her ear b 

the hair. I bas a ! ihrin. 

il Willi tl 

ind! 
In falthV 



OIENOY. 78 

Fpi oe, 

4 The hand thai made us la Divin< 

1 what implation does this open to as of the 

majesty and power of God! WTio can understand it! 

re kepi in their orbits, and the 
continually alternate. Old Ocean dashes himself up 
the shore, and every day finds "hitherto' 5 written upon 
nd, ami the mad surge respects it. The earth 
Ids her in ; able life is evolved; circula- 

tion takes place throughout the animal system; man 
walks and lives, and all these diversified operations are 
•need at one and the same moment, perpetuated 
m cue moment to another by the simple word of 
Extend your conceptions still further ; take hold 
the far-reaching discoveries of astronomy. Glance 
at the numberless suns and systems that are scattered 
in the broad field of immensity, and remember (for 
there is no Scripture against it, and probabilities are 
v in favor of the opinion), that they are all in- 
habited by dependent creatures somewhat like our- 
Grlance at the almost infinite variety of exist- 
which we are acquainted — whether we walk 
the < or cleave the air, or swim the sea — com 

with all these the Scriptural announcement that thi 
but parts of hifl way-, and how little a portion is 
>wn of them; and then how thought shrinks from 
the I how the brain recoils from the contem- 

o 
ition of the sum! and we may well finish the qu< 

ay, "The thunder of his power, who c 

I 



74: THE BELIEVER S SUFFICIENCY. 

understand V' All our reasonings upon the subject 
only serve to demonstrate that man by searching can- 
not iind out God. Could you, with the swiftness of a 
sunbeam, dart yourselves beyond the limits of the 
known creation, and for ages upon ages continue your 
pilgrimage in infinite space you would never — who can 
grasp that thought I it L8 too large for us — never be able 
to reach a place where God is not, never light upon a 
spot where ti.' Being is I ntiallv and 

iiihuehtially present The whde universe [a one va.-t 

laboratory of I . over every department of 

which the Deity | actuary, every pari of 

which the Divinity inhabits— a circle, whose ciivuuife- 
rence is unfathon Lon is iilled 

with GhxL Bui I Btop here jusl for a moment, to re- 
mind yon of the thrill thai 3 through the heart of 
the beli chibition of bound] 
and colossal power, b< 1 home, singing — 

u 1 

Our sufficiency if 1 I k><L 
_. Then, dly» and chiefly, sufficient for, t!>< 

\dfor I plan, 

happin u of di- 

Vi /•. ( hristianity is not to be ?iew< d 
merely as a moral l; thai were to place it <>n a 

Level with the speculations of Confucius, and Smt.-ii- 

and oilier-. [1 mething more, it is a CQW0C of 



'mi: i;i i.i! . v. r5 

Divine operations. We are qoI to regard ii asam< 
teraenl of doctrine made known to a 

• we musl remember the I Kvine 
iys, by which it is conducted and inspired. 
\\\ re, thai do mere man has the power 

u> ; an abiding change upon tin* hearts of his 

hearers. Human eloquence is a mighty thing, I know; 
human a persuasive and powerful thing, I 

know ; under certain favorable conjunctures of circum- 
, they have sometimes achieved mighty results. 
They can shame a Herod, tihey can make a Felix trem- 
, ihey can almost persuade an Agrippa to become a 
ian, but they can do no more. I know that im- 
mense multitudes have been swayed by the power of a 
gle tongue. The passions have become excited, 
either to madness or to sympathy, either to deeds of 
lav ssion, or to deeds of high emprise; but 

then there is only a transient mastery obtained. We 
read of a harp in the classical fables of old, which, 
when the winds swept it, was said to discourse sweet 
ins; but then, unhappily, the breeze and the music 
died away together. Bo it is with the triumph of the 
ctratoi: the moment the voice of the speaker ceases the 
.1 is broken, the charm is dissipated; reflection 
rinst excitement, and the whole 
air is forgotten, or comes upon the ><>ui only as the 
biemory of pleasant Bong. Nay, truth, celestial 

truth, can produce no abiding change. Pardon and 

notification are not the necessary consequence of 



7»; the believer's 61/ificii:ncy. 

statements of doctrine. Scripture cannot produce 
them; the truth may appear in all :u-y and in 

all it- power before the mind— it may appear BO clear 
as to extort an acq i what it propounds; hut 

it IS uuinllucntial ; it lacks energy, and it lacks a >eli- 
appliant power. It may enlighten— thai ace 

— it can never Without tl 

let the Spirit animate power of God. 

Bearers who sit under the mini I the truth 

without i i" 1 1 may 1 to a man standing 

upon the brow of a hill whic] lathe propped 

»pe. The varied beauties of flood 

and of field him ; nature is elad in lirr Rid 

livery, th< ;■■ calculated to interest and 

to ins] Crown as if they would keap 

itinel over tl vallej ; the earth 3 [< 

incr . unlet leaps raerrilj im- 

autiful 1 i i&le, thi 

is j; to the 1 and that one draw- 

back i . pon the summit of 

hill is blind ] of khfa c 

in n - truth in the Bible* I is there in all 

or, hut I 1 1 I t!, 

1 shred off the 
[ritual ophthalmia, and be the landscape stretch- 

before him in all its hues of beauty, and his bou] is 
elevated and he feels the full rapture of the 
Prevailing truth, I not of the letter but of 

the Spirit, for " t! killeth, but tlie Spirit gireth 



THE BJ i.:i 

life." This Spiril it is. thai is promised for the carrying 

out - pel, and it therefore must be succee ful. 

there is I deal of difficulty about hie mode 

redure : God's word rnusl be fulfilled, thai is one 

thing; man's freedom must be maintained, that 

>ther thing. Man is a moral agent; God has en- 

d him with talents and invested him with an im- 

delegation of power 3 and in the distribution 

talents and in the exercise of that power, he has 

. Let him alone; lie may do as he lists — 

just as lie lists. He is allowed, for the present, to act 

as it he had no superior, but for all lie is holden finally 

ftftoet strictly responsible. But no coercion is applied, 

M force is ever in any conceivable instance made use 

1 ; :' our most eloquent senators once said, that 

Irishman's cottage was his castle. The winds 

; y whistle through every crevice, and the rains pene- 

hrough every cranny, but into that cottage the 

monarch of England dare not enter against the cotti 

will. That is just the state of the case between Christ 

I the human soul. He has such a respect tor the 

will of that immortal tenant that he has placed within 

. that he will never force an entrance. He will do 

rything else : he will knock at the door — 

u He IK)'., 

i A hear! ; 
1 keep him out no more, 
N^r (dree him to depart." 

Brit he will not for ntrance. Often, disappointed 



F8 Tin; believer's ^:iru;i:.N\v. 

and grieved, he turns away from those whom he would 
fain have enriched and saved, saying, k * Ye will n<>t 

ie onto me, that ye may have li: lhit ia>twitli- 

the administration I by the ene 

tl e Bolj Spirit, -all finally triumph. We ran c 
■ enewh - 
powerful than th< ich it ha- already i omtored 

; vanquished. Meinorj cheers us '1 and 1 

die. < rod is \\ ith tin 
t trust i 
i 

) and ] :. :'...- in- 

: 
I I 

11 march tri 

[uiring a lodgment :m- 

h< r . ami 

in thai deep and -a, who 

tlir travail of 

i he abundantly I. < > brethren ! what 

9 co oibrtable docl ! [f this G ; ^ I i to he 

lucted from ive march to 

salvation and [ndn i 

Wh< thou in the chapel 

1 could .id and discouraged belies er 

who :irt ;i:V: M of . ;;'j 



i hi. Bl i i i \ i t 1 1 ;■'. 79 

Difficulty, and crouchesl back abashed and cowering 
the lions in fronl of the Palace I '•• autiful t 
up thy head, be not discouraged; thy sufficiency 
I tod. What frightens thee 1 Affliction i God i 

Persecution ? ( rod is thy crown. Perpl< 
God is thy counsel. Death? God ifl thy ever- 
life. Only trust in God, and all shall In' well. 
Life shall glide thee into death, and death Bhall glide 
heaven. w * Who (asks the exalting Apostle, 
in the 8th of Romans), who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ \ Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, 
<>r na r peril, or Bword?" That is rather a 

italogue; but mark how the Apostle answers it: 
Fay, in all these things we are more than conquer- 
It is not a drawn battle 4 ; night does not come 
on b ite the combatants; we have not to send a 

1 to do in ancient warfare, to ; 
permission to bury our dead ; we do not come from the 
Held with the dishonored banner trailing; in the dust 
and the armor hacked, scarred with the wounds we 
i in the fight. " We are more than ooo- 
rpien>i>." Oh, the royalty of thai language! — "more 
than conquerors, through him that hath loved us. For 

I an .'led that neither death" — he puts that first, 

because il generally threatens believers most — "neither 

life," which is really a more Bolemn and a more peril* 

than doath, rightly considered — "neither 

th, nor life, nor angels' 5 — if any of them should for- 

so far as to come and preach anot] 



80 TBS BEUSYBS'8 BUFFICIKNCT. 

Gospel and try to deceive the very elect — "neither 
principalities nor powers" — for although the captain 
of the hostfl of darkness may plant all his m<»>t i'«>r- 
midahle battery aj as, he earn. te pali- 

alVation, nor Bnatch a- Bolitary 

Bheep from the fold of t] £ nl. ki >\<>, nor 

things present? 5 — though those things | may in- 

clude famine, nakedness, peril, and bwokL-ttt ff no, nor 
things to come" — though, in those things bo come, 
there may be an originality of diabolism never dreamed 
of 2 ..ml no creature" — nothing bu1 id that 

ot a creature, that is a foul boi> 

tion npon the nnii 

ore shall !<• yon from 

love ' is in < tr Lord." < di, 

being in 
God 1 T .<• bl( of an approi ing 

, the b of i knowled 

the blesBednt bs of compl . the bl< 

pel ] i ace, th< I I do 

not know v. biota we 

read in the \l> ; 1 do not pretend to an intimate 

[uaintance with Apocalyptic disci | : >ut I know 

nothing that can better i 

. kingly rapture ol thai has finished 

course with joy. It le b Bea of . il hath no bil- 

lows; nol a breath ever, by any possibility, ruffles it. 

And 00 this Bea I OQ a wide and Wl 

on, the belies \ forever, chanting ally 



l in: i;i i i; \ I...' 81 

the long of Moses and the Lamb. Oh, lift ap jrour 
In idi and come back to Zion with Binging, and let this 
be the hurden < >f j • mr Bong : 

1 L-t doubt, then, and danger mj 

only make heaven more Bweel at the cl< 
Affliction^ may damp me, they cannot destroy, 
For one glimpse of His love turns them all Into joy. 
A- I i • oi come Borrow, whate'er may befall, 

hour with my God will make up Cor it all." 

Jt were very little use our talking in this strain to 

yuii, it' you were to find out, after all, that it was some 
ai;>t"cratiral blessing, some privilege reserved only for 
the peerage of the faithful, for the favored ones in the 
family of the King of kings. 

II. I G< ondly, to notice the authority which 

r,i:i.Ii\!l> HAVE TO EXPECT THIS SUFFICIENCY FOR THEM- 

\ bs. And, very briefly, we have a right to expect 
it, because it is found and promised in the Bible. 
Every believer, the moment he becomes a believer, 
becomes an inheritor of the promises. The Bible 
not my Bible, nor your Bible — it is our Bible. It is 
common property; it belongs to the universal Church. 
We have no sympathy, of coarse, with those who 
would dize this sacred treasure, and keep this 

the ( ■ spel burning, and that, with a precious 
ly in the study of the priest, or fettered, as 
it used to be, like a curiosity, to the altars <>i' the 
ireh. Thank God, these days of darkness arc for- 
*4 



V L> '1HK BVLIBTKr's BUFFI0I1 NOV. 



ne by. And yet there is a Church, Bomewh< 
professedly Christian, which denies to its meml 
light and comfort of the Bible, in direct opposition to 
the command of Him who has said to every one, 
"S arch thi scripture-/' thus lutely exalt 

all thai is call i I. ( >h, most foul 

roption ID Bible! As well forbid 

as t I sky, or to be fanned by the 

winged and . I deprive ble ! 

( 'all it . and to ba8k in the 

blaze of his enlh e hand 

which Ian: upon hi " light, and 

hade him shin< d npon the good, has 

I it on pur] 
that it may be a lamp to all ad a lantern to 

all our paths. W atly thank the Spiril of 

I rd, that he pul into th( our forefatl 

to | an ira- 

Q I, we are J 11. We 

our birthright, to 

be thus el thus 

f the Boot of 
the legacy of the Apostles' labor; the bul- 
wark of the confec ase of the mar- 
tyrs' blood. Thank God for the Bible. Let us pr< 
that we love it, by drawing from it all the comforl h 
blec id guid nd warning, which its heaven- 
inspired pages are calculated to afford. Well, we have 

a right, each of D - if W€ aiv in ( Ihril 



THE B] i. ii vu: | .mm 

right to expecl this sufficiency, because ii is promi 
in the Bible. We gather i: from the declarations 

ipture. Listen to them, they :uv yours: "Thus 
saiih the Lord who created thee, Jacob, who formed 
thee, brael, Fear not, L have redeemed thee, I have 
called thee by thy name" What a beautiful thought 
that is] Just get the meaning and beauty out of it 
ELow many thousands of believers, thousands upon 
thousands of believers, have there been in the world 
from the beginning of its histoiy until now — thousands 
in the patriarchal ages who looked through the gl: 
and who saw, dimly, the streak of the morning in the 
distance, and, even with that streak of light, were glad 
— thousands, in the prophetical times, who discerned it 
in the brightness of a nearer vision — thousands who 
basked in its full-orbed lustre, when Christ came into 
the world — thousands upon thousands, since that time, 
who have washed their robes and made them wdiite in 
the blood of the Lamb — thousands, wdio are now upon 
the earth, working out their salvation with fear and 
trembling — thousands upon thousands that shall come 
into the Church in the time of its millennial glory, 
when the gates of it shall not be shut day nor night, 
because the porter shall have no chance of shutting 
them, the people crowd in so fast. Now, get all that 
mass of believers, past, present, and future, a company 
that no man can number; and to each of thorn God 

ues in this promise, and says, "I have called I 
by thy name, I know all about thee* — that is, 1 have 



84 THE BELIBVK&'fi BUFFIOIKHGZ. 

not a merely vague, indefinite knowledge of tliec ; as 
an individual believer I know thy name, I could sin . 
tliee out of millions, I could teU the world all thy soli- 
citudes, and all thy a] tnd all thy hoi 
and all t!iy "I have called thee by thy nan 

Oh, i: to your hearts. " 1 

have called thee by thy name; thou art mi hen 

■8 I v, ill be with thee ; 

r than the water 
W ; b • . * all 

through tl. ball 

the flames kindle uj "Li 

1. rd ( tod 

that i: ;r want- --'• he will m 

btl : And 

it' then 

chfc [u favot 

°f .' 
ran ing that i not wrapped up 

either in '<>vy — " 

thhold from them that \ ." " I 

with t ! , r 1 am 

thy God." ••< be| 

in} thing that has to the 

bitto , that to the hr. 

dies— that I n ■ i % } \ iy , . 

upon me, for I | di tr i tfd 'ill | 



Tin: i;i:i.ii.\ i i:'s B1 i i icii.m I , 

Can v«'u not take God al his wordl Hark! ho con- 
descend [postulate with you upon your unbelief: 
"Wliv Bayest thou, () Jacob, and Bpeakest, Israel, 
u\y way is hid from the Lord" -how often have yon 
Baid that in the time of yonr Borrowl yon know von 
have — k% my way is hid from the Lord, my judgment 
ie passed over from my God. Hast thou not known, 
hast thon not heard, thai the everlasting God, the 
Lord, the Creator of the ends of tin 4 earth, fainteth not, 
neither is weary! There is no searching of his under- 
standing. Ee giveth power to the faint/' lie d« 
not merely take his swoon away and leave him weakly, 
lie makes him strong. " lie giveth power to the faint; 
and to them that have no might he incrcaseth strength.' 1 
Are you still dissatisfied? 

The God who knows human nature, knows how much 
better a teacher example is than precept, and so, spark- 
ling upon the pages of his holy truth, he has left us 
:iy bright instances of his interposition on behalf of 
his -aints. Abraham rises early in the morning, goes a 
three days* journey with the son of his love, intending 
all the while, with set and resolute purpose, to offer him 
in sacrifice to the God of heaven. Arrived at the place 
of their destination, all the ritual preparations arc made: 
the altar is prepared ; the willing victim, unresisting, is 

and; the sacrificial knife is lifted; no escape, then, 
Min-ly ! But man's extremity isGod'e ; unity, and 

the ram is caught in the thicket by its horns, and G< 
grace lis sufficient — none too much — but sufficient still. 



86 toe believer's sufficikxcy. 

The children of Israel are brought to the borders of the 
Red Sea, hotly pursued by the flower of the Egyptian 
army ; the troops are close upon them in the rear ; the 
Red Sea stretches before them — the inaccessible hills of 
Baal-Zephon tower on the right hand and on the left. 
What are they to do I T' ims no possible chance 

of escape. ( >h ! what are the laws of gravitation when 

the Lord works for hifl I He who made them can 

r them at pleasure. The wat< !vc> on 

either hand, and the bed oft! is their triumphal 

pathway. God 5 nfheient still. Nehenriah, 

like a tnu I patriot a jet to work Id 

rebuild the dilapidated •. But he 

..■an, like Bome i in tronblons tin 

ballat B : ■kineii ; 

they w< . that t! i w6tk with 

id in tl : ( fotfft 

ad the np 

in f the ruins of th< 

Wh be an 

almost Invincible unbelief thai these insl ".ill nol 

overcome, What i " I >h, }>ut these are 

all instance ! :«- Old Testament times ; tlie 

lofmin 'now — we are not nowtotexpi 

such inter] n on behalf of God's people." WeH, 

let as try again. I >u1 of the light i 

little into the 1: common life. Tread softly, as v<>u 

enter that house, for it is a house of mourning ; a lar 
family Bnrronnd the bedside of a dying parent; that 



THI Bl 1. 11 \ ' 

1 tiristian, and knowing in whom he baa 
>l afraid to die, Bui he has a lar 
d tlio thought thai he shall leave them with- 
l protector, the tlioughl of the forcible disruption 
ea upon his spirit, and when you 
ik at him, there is a shade of sadness upon his coun- 
: but you gaze awhile, and you Bee thai sadn 
ehased away by a smile. Whal has wrought the 
change 1 Whal i Why, a ministering angel whispered 
t<> him: " Leave thy fatherless children; I will preserve 
them alive." He hails the promisor. Faith cries out: 
"1; is he, ir is lie; my God is present here." lie 
enjoys rapt and high communion with celestial visit- 
ants, and thus that chamber of deatli becomes the gate 
You pass by that house next morning: the 
. shutter and the drawn blind tell you that he 
was and is not. You enter — the widow is sitting in sor- 
row ; the first deep pang is scarcely over. The tones 
of her husband's voice, with which she has so long been 
familial*, rush, in all the freshness of yesterday, upon 
her bouIj and she is worn with weeping. But she, too, 
I 'an, and she flies to the Christian's refuge, and 

her eye trace- those comfortable words: u Thy Maker 
bhii^husband — the Lord of Hosts is his name." It is 
a dark hour ; it has been a dark day ; and the darki; 

liered, and settled, and deepened as the day wore 

on, and now at eventide then- is Bofi and brilliant light, 

jause her sufficiency is of God. 5Tou pass by the 

house again when aboul a week has elapsed. The last 



88 the beukvkk's bufficikncy. 

sad rites have been performed ; the funeral bell, with its 
Buppressed and heavy Bumm6ns, Bounding like the 
dividing asunder of soul and body, has tolled; the very 
elay of her husband has been torn from her embrace. 
lie has died in Bomewhat straitened circumstances; he 
was the Bole dependence of the family, and, with aching 
head and throbbing heart, Bhe Bits down to calculate 

;it her future Bubsi ; her heart begins to fail 

her, but, before Bh< way to despair, Bhe consults a 

friend ; he an, one upon whom the influen 

of the Holy Spirit have operated long; and h< 
her g life of experience : k% 1 have 

been young, and now am old, yet I bave no! Been the 
us i'"!-.* 'read." Dash- 

ing away the tears that had blinded her, she Btruggles 
and labors on, and feels that though it is her darkest 

:r, her sufficiency is still of-God. That is no uncom- 
mon case; I hi drawn largely upon the extrava- 
gancy to bring it out I could 
go into many of our Banctuaries and bid you listen to 
with a glad heart and free, he Bing con- 
verted Burner's anthem: ^ I > Lord, I will praise th< 
thou wast angry with me, but thine anger is turned 
away, and now thou comfortest me." Then I oould bid 
you listen to the experience of another, but faltering 
and low, for he is just recovering from recent dim 
"] was brought low, and he helped me; he saved tue 
even from the of death." And then we could 
point you to a third, and Bay: "This poor man cried, 



i in: r.i i.n vi ftfl Bl i i i< n M I . 

and the Lord heard him, and saved him oul of all 
troubh a. M A:m1 where are the damnatory clauses \' 
forbid you to partake of these ble 1 Whai statute 

of limitations is there that bars you from the enjoyment 
of this -Teat and gracious heritage 1 Brethren, are you 
in ( Then all thai belongs to the covenant is 

5 ours is the present heritage, \ ours is the future 
recompense of reward. 

"Our sufficiency is of God." [s it bo? Then 
will be Bustained in trial; you won't succumb to its 
}>«>wcr ; it won't over-master you; you will regard it as 
sent of God, intended to work lessons and changes of 
providential discipline within you. You will he 
grateful for it ; you will know that when it comes, 
although it looks harsh and repulsive outside, you have 
entertained angels unawares, you will find after it has 
gone away. Oh ! we learn many lessons when the 
head is low, that we do not learn in the heyday of pros- 
perity and blessing. Just as it is in the natural world: 
I know when the sun is set, the stars come out in 
their placid beauty, and 

u Darkness Bhows ufl worlds of light 
We never saw by day » w 

and we should never have known they were there if the 
darkness had not come. So in the night of God's pro- 
vidential dispensations, the stars of the great prom 
come shining out, broad and bright upon the bou! ; and 

we rejoice in their light and go on our way rejoicing. 



90 ..LIKYl-.u's BUPFICIK2K V. 

Or, changing the figure, in the glad summer-time, when 
the leaves arc on the trees, we go out, smch of us as can 
■ into the country — we go out into the thick woods 
and walk under the trees in shadow, and their branches 
interlac a, and tl. 3 are green and gloc 

thick above that we cannot Bee the sky through ; 
; that tl another world, and our 

hearts are revelling in all pleasure and all blessedn 

Bui P tl( D the blasts of winter come and scatter 
the Leaves down, then the light of heaven comes m 
between, and r that lure we have no 

itinuing are urged * one that is 

COn ! take hold sufficiency then, and 

go bravely to 1 1' trial, 1 a will find 

that trial, 

1- ; • ; Gk 1 a it will animate ymi 

t«» duty. 1 n of weakness : u Onto 

me, wl all .-aim.-, is thi 

:.." I.- ss than • I What a p» : weak- 

must have been upon thai bou] ! Listen to 

: "I can do all 

things throng] Christ I a! v ." i 

are the an: • j \Wak- 

3 the most helpless and fee war the n 

exultant and proud; and yet that COnfestioA ut* weak- 
1 xultin- .umicss ofpower g wcro the 



nil-: i;i i.n.\ I .i:'s i mCIKN< f. 9 I 

■tttauio€ of the same lip.-, ami the expression of the 

►erience of the same individual. What made the 

diffi In the one case he relied upon his own re- 

-: in the other, he took hold of tin' sufficiency of 

I. Take hold of the sufficiency of God, and nothing 

will be able to resist you; you will go forward strong 

in the Lord, and in the power of his might, overcoming 

>in and overcoming evil in its every form, and planting 

i and for your Master an heritage of blessing 

in this world and in that which is to come. 

" Our sufficiency is of God." Is there a poor strag- 
gling sinner that is rejoicing to think that the minister 
has forgotten him, and that while he has been endeavor- 
ing to bring out all the heart of the text — privilege and 
promise exceeding great and precious, for the benefit of 
believers — no word of warning can be extracted out of 
it for those that arc yet ungodly? Wait a little. 
What is the lesson you are to learn from the Bub- 
jectl lusl this: that there is a sufficiency in God to 
punish. All his attributes must be equally perfect 
lie must be just, as well as the free and generous 
justiticr of him that believeth in Jesus. Oh, I beseech 
you, tempi not against yourselves that wrath which 
only to be kindled in order \o burn unto the 
lowest hell. "Kiss the Son, lest lie be angry, and 
perish from the way." Perish out of the way — 
just as men fling away any obstacle Or hindrance that 
interrupts their progress, so shall God fling the wicked 
out of his way. " Kiss the Son, Lest he be angry, and 



92 the believer's sufficiency. 

ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but 
a little. But a little — oh, it will need but a little kin- 
dling to do i to the perdition of hell. Brethren, 
yon need not perish : there is a Buffici< ney, thank God ! 
there is a sufficiency m ( . Our sufficiency 
ie of Qod. And with this promise that I fling forth 

• the midst of y6u 3 and pray thai God would bind it. 

■ "ii your souk, I pl< 
my words to-nighl : " Wherefore he is able to save unto 
the uttermost" — to the uttermost erf human guilt — to 

uttermost of human life— to the uttermost of human 
time. May God Bave your bouIs, for the Redeem 
Bak( I 



III. 

THE MISSION OF THE PULPIT. 

tag we have this ministry, as ire nave received mercy, 
N\e faint not; bat have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not 
_ in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by 
of the truth commending ourselves to every man's con- 
science in the sight of God/' — 2 Con. iv. 1, 2. 

Tm- La the Apostle's recorded judgment as to the 
mission of the ministry which lie had received of the 
Lord Jesus, and the duties of which lie discharged with 
:i singular fidelity and zeal. In the preceding chap- 
ter, he magnifies its superiority alike of glory and of 
Lsefn over the dispensation of the law, 

and then in a few weighty words separates himself en- 
tirely from all false teachers, and estaljlishes himself, 
upon the ground of holy character and exalted office, as 
Heaven's high remembrancer among the nations — a 
true witness for God amidst a dark and alien world. 
He take.- care, at the very outset, to assure those to 
whom ho Bpeaks, that he is of the Bame nature, and 

ginally of the Bame sinfulness, as themselves : k * There- 
• ling that we have received this ministry, as we 

have received mercy } we faint not." AW' are not — as if 



*J4 the mission of the pulpit. 

lie had said — a distinct order of beings: thep 
natural superiority of character which might make the 
minister proud, or which might make the hewer distant, 
and callous, and unsympathizing. We omv jrera sin- 
ners ; ^\ ^ h lemory of I ; wq have 

lvr. otluT.- ^ 

tidings that have led t<»<»in- redemption. As we have 

1 . hut have lviK'unct'd the 

den tlii lities of 

q craftim ss, not retaining 

onr hold opon the i of men by deedivablenn 

<»i* d I by jngglii Eiders ; not 

e Word > eaching u 

adulters ith or a i noi pliant to the 

whfl hear 

11 but, by man': the trc unending onr- 

All 1 1 the A of the ministry of 

olden time, may be affirn tlio ministry of recon? 

cilial I at mini i dly maligned on 

the one hand] i ctly fulfilled on the other hand, 

ion to the world. The unrepealed ooffb- 

mand .-till i upon the Btatute-1 It: u f3tQ ye into 

all the world, and preach the Gospel unto every ei 
tare* And it is b praj i r oft( [y and passion- 

ately uttered by t] .'ions bai a 

fallen, that, repudiating artifice and idleness, they mav, 
by manifestation of the truth, commend thrniM-Iws to 

c\ cv\ man* ■• in tlic I <l. I pur]- 



TH1 i II PIT. 

i helping me, briefly to Dotice from these words in 
. the business of the ministry; secondly, 
the instrumentality which it employs ; and thirdly, the 
thought thai hallows it. 

I. The .viNhiKv — this is my first position— -has a busi- 

- WITH THE WOELD. It IS the I )ivinely-a pnoint i •< I 

agency for the communication of God's will to man. 
AlS a Divine institution it advanced its claims in the 

ginning, and in no solitary instance have they been 
relinquished since. Tin's Divine authorization and en- 
actment are .-till in force. The Bible says, when Christ 

ended up on high, "he led captivity captive, and 
ifts for men; and lie gave some apostles, and 

.e prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors 

I teachere, for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
Work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
Christ." There might be something special, perhaps, in 
this original commission, but the principle of its Divine 
origin is evidently presented as the principle of the 
mini-try itself; for St. Paul, who was not then called, 
who speaks of himself afterward as one born out of due 
time, earnestly and anxiously vindicates the Heavenly 

gin of his apostleship: "I certify you, brethren, that 

the Gospel which was preached of me is not of men ; C »r 

I neither received it of men, neither was I taught it but 

by the revelation of Jesus Christ." This it is which is 

on of the Christian ministry, which exall 

above human resources and human authority. It 
travels on in its own majestic strength — Heaven-inspired 



thk inSBIOH of the rrLrir. 

and heaven-sustained. Moreover, the same passu 
which tellfl us of the institution of the ministry an- 
nounces its duration, and lulls of the period when it 
shall be no Longer needed — till we all come, in the unity 
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Bon of God, 
unto a perfect man — unto the measure of the stature of 
the fullness of ( 
This period, thus divinely appointed for the cessatioo 

of the mini-try, hafl obviously not yel arrived. The 

world sees hut li" of millennia] glory; there is 

yel an in it.- d< based and rebel tril 

there is nothing in the pnrBnil \ w Inch it follows, nor in 

the natural impulses which move it, to incite to holy 

aim or t<> induce spiritual In ing. It ha- no self 

tive memory of I kkL Jt ! ■.■ Mind and 

■, erl'ul, and a will as I' i wr. I Katli is in 

the mi( it, and, though the corpse may he some- 

times embalmed with >r tricked oul with flow* 

or c plumes to burial, the chill 

ath of the plague is in the tainted 

air, and th( . . nm need, for the 

Inted i itaees who may stand I the living and 

dead, that the pis tayed. There ftre 

16, I know, who trll as that the mission of the juilj.it 

is fulfillecL They ackno that, in the earlier 

s time of comparative darkness, when men 
spell out the truth in syllables, if did a uoblework; 
bat the world has outgrown it, they tell us; meo ue?d 
neither its light nor its warning; the all-powerful IV 



'l 1 1 1 : mi HOM OF •mm: n i.rri'. 91 

shall direct them, the educational institute shall a 
them in their upward progress, they Bhall move onward 
and upward under the guidance of the common mind, 

I, while this is the cry of infidelity and indifferent- 

, there are some among ourselves who have partially 

yielded t<> the clamor. They have deplored (as who 

must not f) the apparent ineffectiveness of existing 

e feebleness of the efforts for evangelical 

I, in their eagerne nciliate prejn- 

nd disarm opposition, they have compromised 

ewliat the high tone of Christian teaching, and 
have Btudibusly avoided tlie very terminology of tlic 

le, bo that the great truths of God's will and man's 
duty, of Christ's atonement and the sinner's pardon, of 
the Spirit's work and the believer's growth — those old 
md is always music and whose sight is 
always joy, are hardly to he recognized, as they are 
hidden beneath profound thought, or veiled within 
affected phrase. Cut the Divine institution of the 
mini-try is not to he thus superseded. It has to do 
with eternity, and the matters of eternity are para- 

int. It deals and would grapple with the inner 
in; it has to do with the deepest emotions of the 
nature, with those instincts of internal truths which 
underlie all systems, from which a man can never 
utterly divorce himself, and which God himself lias 
graven on the soul. So far as they work in harmony 
with its high purpose, it will hail the helpings of all 
other teaching ; hut (i<>d hath given it the monarchy, 



98 THE 1OSSI029 OF THE PULPIT, 

and it dare not abdicate its throne. The opposition 
that you sometimes meet with of worldliness and infi- 
delity to the pulpit, it' you analyze it, yon find that 
though it may have derived from the oppressions of 
priestcraft in bygone ages somewhat of plausibility and 
force, it Is but one phase of the method in which the 
human heart discovers its rooted and apparently uncon- 
querable enmity to Qod, Hence it is our of the worsl 
nptoms of I which the ministry has horn 

calculated and to remove. The teaching 

. of the philanthropic idealist, of 
the benevolent v. they bo popular I 

T teach] LOUS mini-tor — why is it bo 

to the worldl "Mainly from this one fact, 
thai th< - human 

nature— ti i other insists upon tho doc- 

trine of the Fall. x i i i 'ill find, in all the schemes for 
f man ounded on the Bible, the 

,'tati<>n i , lofty ideas of peril 

ihility. er rr\ elation nor 

ly influence I i it in the way of truth. 

one among many 
all men m;i : or reject at pleasure, 

[ta restraints are deemed impertinence, it- repn 
unnatural bond The talk of such teaching is fre- 

quently of >m of.d pli- 

mented on their manliness who ought to be hunpbled 
for their bu . rings to their pride, 

they are exhorted to i or habitual 



TBI I HE PULPIT. 

; i od. Both kinds of teaching, the worldly 
alike, aim al the aplifting of the 
are. Bui then they look al il from different Btand~ 
course, they apply to it differenl treat- 
ment. The one is an endeavor to exalt the nature 
without God ; the other would take hold of his Btrength 
and w<.rk to the praise of his glory. The one r< j 
humanity us it once was before sin had warped it, able 
twer and triumph in its own unaided strength— -the 
oth( it decrepit or ailing, the whole head Bick 

and the whole heart faint; and yet, by the halm of 
ad, to he restored to pristine vigor. The one, 
deeming that no confusion has come upon its language, 
ime upon its many builders, would have it pile up 
Babel towers until they smite the shies — the other 
- the towers in ruins, splintered shaft and crumbling 
b hearing witness that they were once beautiful 
exceedingly, and that by the grace and skill of the 
Architect, they may grow up again into a 
holy temple in the Lord. 

It is absolutely necessary, in this age of manifold 

activities and of spiritual pride, that there should he 

er-speaking witness of man's feebleness and of 

Gk>d ! :;gth. And, however much the opposition 

linst the mini-try may toll, and it does toll, and it 

II. against the vapid and frivolous, against 

the idle and insincere, it is a powerful motive for the 

titution of the mini-try itself; just as the blast that 

Bcatters the acorns, roots the <>ak the more firmly in 



100 THE 1CISSIOH OF TUB l'LLl'IT. 

the suil. So long as men are burn to die, so long as the 
•recording angel registers human guilt, so long as human 
responsibility and retribution are unheeded truths, go 
long as th( re is i b litary sinner tempted hy the 
black adversary, bo long will the ministry have a busi- 
es with : Id; and ir is the earnest prayer of 
those who have undertaken it tl wit they may in some 
hum ire, in all fidelity and with dauntless 
com ial sympathy, with purr affection, 
witi . like thai - angel whoip the 
list Baw with the light upon his wings, haying 

ich anto every nation and 
people and I 

II. [observe, udly, the business of the muostbt 

DB maim.v WITB ] ni: I K\ cry man 

St is, a natural E ;' the dillr- 

renoe beta i d and »-\ i [pie which d< 

much with the true and false in 
human ethics, or with the gainful and damaging in 
human fortune •• in human 

duct ('all it what yon will, analyze it as yon may 
• a la.-ulty, an :\ a law — it is the most important 

principle in our nature, I II we arc brought 

into ion with, and sensible recognition 

the mon rnment of God. It has been defii 

i tribunal within a man for his own daily 
and impartial trial ; and in its \ ers 

right well to all the parts of a judicial tribunal. It is 
tin' I»ar at which 1 1 r pleads; it pri •!'. 



'i i; , i lp] r. LOT 

• ion of Iran m ; il record i I be crime ; it b< 

guilt or innocence; and 08 a judge it acquits 
Tim 3 taking <•< gnizance of moral acti< 
it is t!u« faculty which relates us to the other world; 
and by it God, retribution, eternity, are made abidi 

i the bouI. As by the physical 
brought Into connection with the physical world, and 
i blue heavens over it, and the green earth around 
Us, are recognized in their relation to ourselvi : i by 
this moral f conscience we sec ourselves, in the 

light of immortality, responsible creatures, and gain 
P duty and of God. How mighty is the influ- 
le which this power lias wielded, and yet contim 
to wield in the world! There are many that have tried 
to I fit, but there is a manhood at its heart which 

murder cannot kill. There are many that have rebelled 
against its authority, but they have acknowledged its 
ight notwithstanding, and it has rendered them dis- 
turbed and uneasy in their sin. There are multitudes 

re that have fretted against its wholesome warning 
and often when — because it has warned them of danger 
or threatened them with penalty — they have tried to 
stille and entomb it, it has risen Up suddenly into a 
braver resurrection, and pealed forth its remonstran 
in bolder port and louder tone. But for its restraint, 
ft reputable ones would have become 
criminal. Bui for its restraint, many of the world's 
criminals would have bee aore audaciously bad. 

It has s]>«»ken, and the felon, fleeing when no man pnr- 



102 TUB ICI8SIQ21 OF rUK l'l i.rrr. 

sued him, has been chased by a falling leaf. It lias 

►ken, and the burglar has paled behind his mask, 

Btartled at his own footfall. It has spoken, and the 

in has been arrested in bis purpose, and 

• he lias struck die blow f 

vindictive and a upbraiding after the sin has been 

d the sinner into agonj a and 
I an in1 morality l>y pre: 

venting ] n the one win. 

for God amid the traitor faculti imdis- 

may< . litary but true, W ling 

and the n • had 

all C 

. itJl fun:: 

Ii has 
i the o 
like a moo I; \ el- 

. whom tl 

been abroad in the yrorld, 
I men * ould fain I a >lved them into ordinary 

has 

refused to be I with Biich delusive interpreta- 

ad, without a prophet's inspiration, has ii 
the handwritin blazed upon the wall. 

It I ed the criminal oftentimes to deliver bi 

up !-• justice, pr< ferrh of the trial 

and the gallon i the d( 11 of a i acq 

aroused and angry. Fes, and it has ained from 

tlie dyii: ,1 he has Lnaalted, 



111! MI . [4 «N OK I III. IM I. II : . L03 

i/ivrii when the shadows of perdition were alr< 
darkening upon the branded brow. 

Oh, brethren, thai musl be a mighty power which 

bas wrought and which is working thus! And ii has 

wrought and is working in yon ; and, as such, we 

acknowledge it. We can despise no man who has a 

Although with meanness and with Bin be 

ty largely overlay it, we recognize the majestic and 
insulted guest, and are Bilent and respectful as in the 
presence of a fallen king. We see the family-likem 
although intemperance has bloated the features and has 
dulled the sparkle of the eve. There is a spirit in man, 
spiration of the Almighty giveth him undcr- 
mding. Now it is with this faculty in man that the 
minister has mainly to do. His work, bis business, is to 
bring out the world's conscience in its answer to the 
truths of Divine revelation. Recognizing in it som 
thing which can respond to its own duty, the minister- 
ing witness without will constantly appeal to the 
answering witness within. Regarding all other facul- 

, however separately noticeable, as ^venues only to 
the conscience, he will aim constantly at the ear- of the 
inner man. To come short of this is to come short of 
duty. To fail in this is to fail in a work which our 

jter has given us to do. We should form but a very 
unworthy estimate of our own high calling it' we were 

aim at the Bubjugation of any subordinate faculty, 

I, that accomplished, sit down as if our work were 
done The minister may appeal to the intellect — of 



lOi THE MISSION OF THK PULPIT. 

course he may. All thanks to him it* he clear away dif- 
ficulties from the path of the bewildered. All thanks 
to him if he present truth in its Bymmetryof Bystem, 
and in all the grand and rounded harmony of its beau- 
tiful design. But he must press through the outworks 

lei, through the intellect to tl 

that th( standing, no longer darkened, may appre- 

id that the apprehended truth may 

ma] free. The imagination may he 

charmed by the truth, which is itself beauty : hut only 

may hold the mirror np to 
own portrait there photograp] ctly from on high, 

h such lelity, gives all the 

pon the i and wrinkle 

upon the brow. '1 be rouBed by the 

truth, whid 

!' wrath, or 

■ mainly that people n ; q bell and enter 

i, hut thai the i • on a holy 

ll the comely outgrowth of a 
trail 1 and Bpiritual ;ter, and that through 

the Impending fear of perdition and the promised water 
ot* life, a man may issue into the wealthy place of con- 
fidence in God, assimilation t«» bis image, that attach- 
ment t<> righl which would cleai i 

. 1 that pi : . 

Lore which casteth out all possible tear. 

It is not the intellect, then, hut the com 

the imagination, but the conscience— not tl- 



THE ICI83I03 OF mi. PULPIT. LOS 

but the to \\ bicb the minister is to com- 

mend bimsclf in the Bight of God, [f be Bpcaks to the 
intellect, the philo o]>lier ran rival bim. It" be speak 

tation, Iris brightest efforts pale before the 

zling images of the poet's brain, [f be Bpeaks to the 
passions, the political demagogue can do it better. But, 
in his power over the conscience, he bas a power thai 

man shares. An autocrat undisputed, a czar of many 
lands, he ran wield the sceptre over the master-faculty 

man. Oh! very solemn is the responsibility which 
thus w Bts upon the religious teacher. To have the 

Bter-faculty of man within his grasp; to witness of 
truths that arc unpopular and repulsive ; to reprove of 

, and of righteousness, and of judgment ; to do this 
with his own heart frail and erring, with the moral con- 
iliet battling in his own spirit the while. "Who is 

Bcient for these things if" breaks often from the man- 
liest heart in its seasons of depression and unrest. JJut 
jomfort broad and strong, and I feel that com- 
fort now supporting me. While pained by my own 
unworthiness, and by the trilling of multitudes over 
whom ministers weep and yearn — pained by the ehbrt- 

bted and Belf-complacent indifference of the church 
and the world — pained by the thousand difficulties 
which Satan always puts in the way of the reception \>i 
truth as it is in Jesus; 1 Bay there is a comfort of 
which I cannot he deprived: that all the while there is 
a mysterious something moving in you — in you all— 

rbing the faithful appeal, pointing the Bolemn warn- 



100 Tin: mission of thk pulpit. 

ing, striking the alarum in the Binn oL Th< 

d to thai ! That be! That hear 

calloufl and ungrateful — it is thine. That bin that the 
in': -thou hast committed it. That doom 

- i full of i rror — thou art speeding to it. 

How wilt thou damnati hell I Many a 

tin.- oft, when the minister without has gone 

in tears has offered his 

bath believed cur report?* themin- 

p within, b . has been a successful 

jarner; and 
i en when, the human minister, there has 

p in the depths of the 

troubled sea ; and 

in the the truth he was 

• borne 
him wil 
excu 

instrumentality which ( ted has 
empowered as 1 truth. Fou will have no 

difficulty in on iding whal the Apostle means by 

the truth, I he calls it ■ >rd of grace," and 

lation of God in Christ, die 

and wondrous death of ■ the 

truth, alone adapted to the supply of every beed, and 

the rescue from ] ' rdi- 

nary man. Well-read in the literature of the tin 

rvant ofthi ttcies and the inclination.- of mail, 

he would be ready to acknowledge truth overywh* 



Tin; MI88ION OF THE PULP] r. l n 7 

He knew that there had been truth in the world before. 
BLe would Bee it in Pagan systems, gleaming faintly 
through encumbered darkness. Fragments <>t" it had 
fallen from philosophers in former times, and had been 
treasured up as wisdom. Jt had a Bomewhat healthy 
circulation through the household impulses and ordinary 
concerns of men. But it was all truth for the intellect, 
truth for social life, truth for themanward, not theGod- 
ward relations of the soul. The truth which told of 
God, which hallowed all morality by the sanction- of 
Divine law, which provided for the necessities of the 
entire man, was seen but dimly in uncertain traditions. 
I tnscience was a slave, h it essayed to speak, it was 
overdone by clamor, or hushed by interest into silence. 
The higher rose the culture, the deeper sank the charac- 
ter. The whole world seemed like one vast valley, 
fertile and gay with flowers, but no motion in the dumb 
air, not any song of bird or sound of rill ; the g] 
darkness of the inner sepulchre was not so deadly still, 
until there came down a breath from heaven that 
brought life upon its w T ings, and breathed that life into 
the unconscious heaps of slain. Thus, when Christ 
me with his Gospel of purity and freedom, all other 
aed to borrow from it a clearer light and a 
richer adaptation. The ordinary instincts of right 
: wrong were sharpened into a, keener discernmert, 
rd with a more spiritual sensibility. T e 
Gospel founded a grander morality; the Gospel 
lished a more chivalrous honor ; the Gospel shed on! i 



108 THE MISSION OF T.IK PULPIT. 

more genial benevolence. All the old systems had 
looked at man as a half-man ; only on one side of his 
nature; that part of him that lay down to the earth. 
The Gos] I took the whole round of his faculties, both 
lying toward earth and as rising toward heaven. 
Love t<» man — the ordinary, commonplace philanthropy 
of every day, the philanthropy that wings the feet of 
the good Samaritan, and that Bends all the almsgu 

apon errands «>!' mercy — love to man was not known in 

it- fullness, ontil the Gospel came. "Thou Bhalt love 
thy neighbor" was ■ command of old, but then the 
Ji - ted the neighborhood, and then they 

the affection. The Jew's neighbor was not 
the Samaritan, but one within his own exclusive pale 
and sphere. But when love to ( rod came, like a queenly 

mother leading OUl her daughter by the hand, then men 

wtodered at the rare and radiant beauty that had 
escaped their notice bo long; and when they loved God 
first, then it was that from that master I «re the streams 
of love to man Bowed forth in ceaseless and in generous 
profusion. And the Gospel is just the same now* [1 
tii<' irn at inspiration of ordinary kindnesses, and of the 
ory-day and rippling happiness of life, Jt is the truth 
for man; the truth for man's every exigency, and i'^v 
Ids wry peril — blessing the body and saving the soul. 
By the truth, them which we are t.» commend to 
man 1 tand the truth a- it is in 

truth which convinces of Bin and humbles 
under i of it ; the truth which reveals atonement 



TBI KB8I0N Of THH PI LP! r. I 

ami flashes pardon from it ; the troth which leads the 

doned spirit apward to holiness and heaven. Now, 
we are to bring thai conscience and thai truth Into con- 

ition with each other; thai is the great business for 
which we are gathered here. In order thai there may 
be the bringing of the one Into connection with the 

er, there must be variety in all t ruth, suited to the 
various Btates in which the conscience of the heaters 
may be found. 

Now, tor the sake of argument, we may take it that 
there are three stages in which nearly the whole of the 
consciences of humanity are ranged: those whose con- 
sciences are slumbering, torpid, inert, lifeless; those 
wlmse consciences arc quick, apprehensive, alarmed ; 
and those whose consciences have passed through those 
former Btages, and are now peaceful, happy, and at rest. 

1. First, theri are some consciences that have no appre- 
hension of God — no spiritual sensibility at all. It is a 
d thought that this has been, and continues to 
be, the condition of the vast majority of mankind. 
Think of the vast domain of paganism, where the truth 

(rod is lost for lack of knowledge, with its monstrous 
idols, fertile of cruelty, and its characters exemplifying 

fry variety of evil. Yon may look through universal 
history ; you can see the track of passion in the light of 
the flames which it has kindled ; you can see the works 
of imagination throned In bodiless thought, or sculptui 
in breathing marble; you can Bee the many inventions 
of intellect on every hand, but for conscience placed on 



110 THE MISSION OF THE PULPIT. 

its rightful scat, and exerting its legitimate authority, 
you look almost in vain. Even in Christian England 
there are multitudes of whom it may he said that God 
is not in all their thoughts, to whom conscience ifl a dull 
and drowsy monitor, who live on from day to day in 
the disregard of plainest duties, and in habitual, harden- 
ing mil Are there not Borne herel It may be yoti go 
to your i f worship, bnt to little purpose ; you arc 

rarely missed from your b \ but you have 

trilled with c ' ■ until it rarely troubles you, and 

when it does, you pooh-pooh it as the incohen rices of a 

drunkard, or the ravin-- frantic madman. 

Brethren, I do Peel it a Bolemn duty to manifest God's 

arousing truth to you, I appeal to the moral sense 

within you. Sou are attentii e to the truth ; the Word 

is suffered to play around your understanding; [wanl 

it to^go deeper. I accuse you fearlessly of heinous and 

flagrant e you have nol humbled 

yourselves before Heaven; and God, in whose hands 

y< or breath is, and whose are all yo . you have 

• glorified. I cl pge you with living to yourselves, or 

that, going about to i i your own righteousn< 

you have no( submitted yo to the righteousness 6f 

i. J arraign you as being guilty of base ingratitude, 

smueh as when Ohrisl wa d, the just for the 

unjust, thai he mighl bring you to God, you refused to 

rken. And you have trodden under fool the blood 

of the covenant, and counted it an unholy thing. 1 

rase some of you, moreover, of trying to secure im- 



Tfl \ Of THE PI i.i'i i. Ill 

punity by your vile treatmenl of God'fl inward witn< 
5 ou have deposed confidence from its throne; you have 

■ 1 to bribe it to be a participator with you in your 
crimes; you Lave overborne it by Interest, or busine . 
or clamor, or pleasure; you have Limited its scrutiny to 
the externa] actions, and nol allowed it to sit in judg- 
ment over the thoughts and intentions of the inner 
man. When it has startled you, you have lulled it to 
Bleep, and you have done it on purpose that you might 
the more easily and the more comfortably sin. bre- 
thren, I am not your enemy because I have told you the 
truth. That very conscience which you have insulted 
bears me witness that it is the truth which I now minis- 
ter before you. I warn you of your danger. Oh! I 
would not fear to shake you roughly if I could only 
bring you to a knowledge of yourselves. It is a sad and 
disastrous thought that there are some consciences here 

fatally asleep that they may never be roused except 
by the peal of the judgment trumpet or by the flashing 
of the penal fires. 

% Then there are some whose consciences a/n arouti <L 
and who are going about, it may be, in bitterness of 
S'. »ul. You have seemed, perhaps, hard and impene- 
trable, but there has been a terrible war in yoursoul; 
your conscience has been at work; it is at work now. 
Oh! I have a power over you from this fact — that I 
have gol an ally in your own bosom testifying to the 
truth of the things I speak beforq you. You may fret 
against thai power, but you cannot rob me of it. You 



112 tiik lliSSION OF Tin-: lTLiar. 

cannot get the barb out ; all your endeavors to extract 

• 

it only widen and deepen the wound. My brother, oil ! 
let me manifest Christ's redeeming truth to thee. 
( ihrist has died : all thy wants may be supplied through 
wondrous death. La thy heart callous and ungrate- 
ful J Eel ted the law ami made it ho&oraH 
II;.-: : i justice! He has satisfied its 
claims. Hast thou violated law I Be has lifted up the 
ma; i juitv. I> there in thy Bpirit unrest and 
I me t him; is like the Gali 
hall hear him, and there shall be ■ gi 
calm. Doth die oune brood over thee, and calamity 

a]. pal thy lOll] I Flee to tched arms, and as 

i sobbest on his bosom hear his whispered comfort: 
M 1 ben now no condemnation unto them 

that are in Christ Jesus, < walk i r the Beth, 

but after the v disappear, the 

tempest hath passed by, tl : lift 

up thy he , smiling, happy. Let as 

hear thy exp M In whom I redemption 

through his blood, even the forgiveness of Bin!, accord- 
ing to th 

& Bui some erf you have got Btill further, and are 
happy in //<> §cn* oftA* Redeemer's lave, Sou are in 
the fairest possibli □ for the true Boul-growth day 

by day. ^<»;; rejoice in Christ Jesus now. You bare 
victory oyer the carnal mind now. All antagonistic 
]'"v. • now, ( Sonseience fa tied 

authority, and is sensitive at the approach of ill, and 



Tin: IO88I03 OF THE PI LPIT. 1 L3 

er for the completed will of God, I rejoice to mani- 
Fes1 ( » d'e discipling, training, growing, comforting, 
nourishing truth to you. Self is not the master 
principle within you now; you are nol paralyzed by 
craven tear. There is a good land and fair before you. 
Rise to the dignity of your heritage. Whal a future 
awaits you! to be day by day more like God, to have 
day by day bright visions of the throne, day bj day in- 
oreased power over sin, increased progress toward 
heaven, increased fellowship with the Divine; and then 
when the tabernacle falls down there opens another 

:ie — angelic welcomes, the King in his beauty, and a 
house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. 

III. "By manifestation of the truth commending 
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of 
God." In the sight of God. Ah ! that is the thought 
that hallows it. All our endeavors for the enlighten- 
ment of the ignorant arc under the felt inspection of 
Almighty God. His eye marks the effort; his voice, 
U I know thy works," is constantly in-spoken to the 
soul, it is necessary that we should feel this in order 
to tit us for our duty. If we do not feel this we shall 
have no courage. Depend upon it, the heroism which 
the pulpit nerds, which it never needed in this world's 
history BO much as it needs to-day — the heroism which 
the pulpit needs, which the ministry must have, will 
not be wrought in the soul unless this thought he there. 

There is so much to enclave a man — the consciousness 
of his own onworthiness and weakness, in his hot and 



1 14- TUK MISSION OF THE PULPIT. 

holiest moments; the love of approbation which, iroin 
a natural instinct, Bwelli often into a sore temptation; 
the reluctance to give offence lest the ministry should 
be blanked, the anxiety as to what men think of him 
and my of him — ohl how often have these thing! 
stern reproof or faithful warning) made 
: the slare instead of the monarch of his 
Ration, and, instead of the stern, strong;, fearless 
utterance of the prophet, made him stammer forth his 
lispingi with the heaitancy of a blushing child. De- 
pend upon it. it ifl no light matter; it requirei no com- 
inii!) boldness bo stand tingle-handed before the pride 
of birth) and the pride of rank, and the pride of officio, 
and the pride erf intellect, and the pride of money, to 
rebuke their tr >ff their false eon- 

fid! d tear a* aj tb "t" ii< s. Hut it" a 

it burned i heart that he ifl speaking 

in the Bight of God, he will do it— yes, he will. God- 
fear mil banish man-fear. He will feel that for the 
time the pulpit is hi.- empire and the temple is his 
thmiie, and, like another Baptist, hi' will thunder out 

his dt-nuneiati' rich and ] r together, with 

his betnest eyes straight flashing into their.-. "Exoepl 
shall all likewise perifeh." 

11 In the sight i him that thought, and 

he will he tend< i- as well as brave; he ^^ 1 1 1 look upon 
[ration as immortal, and will Bee in aaehssM 
before him (oh, that thought is overwhelming!) an off- 
spring of the Divine, an heir of the Everlasting! and 



TIN V :• 1 lli PI LP! I- 11 .') 

in tliis aspect of it he will tremble before the maj< 
of man; he will be awe-struck as he thinks of trying 
to influence them for eternity. There will be no harsh- 
ness in his tones, there will be no severity in his coun- 
tenance* It' the violated law must speak oul its thun- 
ders, it will be through brimming eyes and faltering 
gue. He will remember his own recent deliverance. 
Like Joseph, he will Bcatter blessings round him with 
a large and liberal hand; but there will l>c no osten- 
tation, there will he no vanity; for lie will remember 
that he is but the almoner of another's bounty, and that 
his own sold has only just been brought out of prison. 
He will he like one shipwrecked mariner who has hut 
just got upon a rock, and is stretching out a helping 
hand to another who yet struggles in the waters ; hut 
he that is on the rock knows that the yawning ocean 
rages and is angry, near. Oh! let us realize that we 
are in sight of God, and we shall have larger sympa- 
thies for man, we shall have more of the spirit of Him 
who came eating and drinking, who was a friend of 
publicans and sinners. There will be no fierce rebut 
no proud excliisivisin, no pharisaical arrogance then. 
The sleeper will not be harshly chided ; the remon- 
of affection will yearn over him, K My brother, 
my brother I" ami the tear will gather in the eye n< the 
invitation is given, or the regret is breathed, u Te will 
not come unto me that ye may hare life;' 3 "Come, all 

ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest." 



116 THE I0B810M 01 THE ITLPIT. 

H ln tlie sight of God. M That will help us fo per- 
Bevere. We shall be constant as well as brare and 
Gender, if we realize continually that we are in the 

it of God. Though difficulties multiply, this ^vill 
prevent us from becoming weary and Aunt in our 
minds; We shall remember him who endured the coh- 

Liction of bumk tinst himself; and, through 

penrereeness or obstinacy, whether men will hear or 
whether men will forbear, we shall labor on for the 
cause of Christ and for the good of Bonis, We shall 
not be satisfied with good report, with extensive popu- 
larity, with dec ations, with attenti 
tied, and - ry countenance. We 
shall want souls. Wi 38 right away through 
to the ad of in storing the Biiprcmacy of con- 
! bringing r< d world hack again 
i I ted. This is our life-work, and we 
ing it day by day — unfaithfully, imperfectly, hut 
wl' are doing it. Moral truth upon the mind of man 

tmething like a Bat in a churchyard, through 

which there is a thoroughfare, and hundred- of patter- 
ing jet it day after day. Familiarity with it 
weakened the impression, and time has effaced the 
Lettering. Bui God 1 ith a friendly chisel 
to brin 

distinctest outline ii its of men. Tlii 

our life-work ; and we are laboring on amid the driving 

sleet and pelting rain; jostled UOW and then by the 

rude and heedless j- r; fitfully looked at by 



mi m. [ON OF iiik PI i.ri r. 1 i J 

those who Hit away to the farm and the merchandise; 

arded with a Botl of contemptuous admiration by 
those who admire our industry, while they pity our 
enthusiasm. Patient, earn< ri workers, wo must Labor 

and we intend to do it. God helping, the mini ; 
of reconciliation will continue to be proclaimed, within 
Lch of every man in this land, Sabbath after Sabbath, 
Universally, unto those who will come, without money 
ami without price* And everywhere we shall have 
our reward. J, for my part, cannot labor in vain. 
What think you would sustain me under the pressure 
of the multiplied excitement and multiplied sorrow 
and labor, hut the thought that I cannot labor in vain \ 
The words I have just spoken have been launched into 
your ears, and have lodged in your conscience, and I 
cannot recall them. Simple, well-known Bible truths 
have gone into your conscience, and I cannot recall 
them. But they shall come up some day. You and 
I may never meet again until we stand at the judg- 
ment-seat of God. They shall come up then — then — 
and, verily, I shall have my reward. I shall have it 
when some fair-haired child steps out to spell out the 
syllables upon the Hat stone, and goes away with a 
new purpose formed in his heart. I shall have it when 
some weather-beaten man, bronzed with the lines of 
ciimatrs and shades of years, takes the solemn warning, 
numbers his days, and applies his heart unto wisdom. 
I shall have it in the welcome given to my ascending 
spirit by some whom I first taught, it may be un- 



118 THE MISSION OF TIIE PULPIT. 

worthily, to swell the hoaanna of praise, or to join 
with holy sincerity in all the litanies of prayer. I 

shall have it in the smile that wraps up all heaven in 

if, and in those tones of kindness which flood the 

Bonl with ineffable music — w, AVell dene, then i:<><, d and 

faithful servant; enter thou into the '}<>y of thy Lord." 

I leave with y<>u and the Spirit — 1 dare net trust you 

alone- -the Word of his grace, praying that lie who 
:ie can apply it, may give it life and power. 



IV. 
SOLICITUDE FOE THE ARK OF GOD. 

d when he came, lo, EB sat upon a seat by the wayside watching; 

art trembled for the ark of God."—] Sam. i\\ 13. 

What news from the battle-field? — for the Philistines 

out against Israel, and the Israelitish armies are 
marshalled, and have gone forth unto the tight. A few 
days ago a reverse befell them, but they have sent for a 
fancied talisman, and they are marching now with the 
ark of God in their midst, deeming that its presence in 
their camp will assure victory to their side. There is 
expectation in the streets of Shiloh, doubt and hope 
alternating in the spirits of its townsmen; for though 
the ark is a tower of strength, yet their defeat has dis- 
heartened them, and dark rumors, moreover, of the 
Lord's kindled anger, and of sad prophecies alleged to 
have been spoken, are rife among the people; so that 
many a glance is strained wistfully toward the plains 
Aphek, whence the couriers may bring tidings of the 
war. There are quivering lips in the city, and che< 
blanched with, sudden fear ; for the tidings have come, 
and they arc tidings of disaster and of shame: the glory 



120 SOLICITUDE FOR THE ARK OF UOD. 

of Israel hath fallen upon its high places ; the shield of 
the mighty hath been vilely cast away; thirty thousand 
of the people hare fallen with a great slaughter; and 
the sacred symbol of their faith itself has been carried 
oft' in triumph by the w< rehippers of Aahtaroth and 
Dagon. Load is the wail of the widoWB, and terrible 
the anguish of the remnant that are left, oppressed by 
the national du Bnl yonder, near the gate, there 

Id man, with Bilvered hair and sightless 
v whom, as each mourner passes, he Bubdues 
his Borrow into silt in the presence of grief that 

is mightier than his own. I; is Eli, the high priest $f 
God; he hears the tumult, but is yet unconscious of its 
cause* Bat now the m< >mes in hastily to 

unfold his burden of lamentation and of weiping. 
u And the man said ui q he thai came otH 6t 

army, and I (led b l1 of the army. And lie 

[, Wbal :" ( >h, terrible are 

the tidings thai arc now to come upon the heart of that 
old man. lil 3 of thunder. k Ami the 

me red and . tsrael is fled before 

tlie Philistifr -"'- here the patriot mourns— "and there 
hath been 1 reat slaughter among the people" — 

here the spirit of the judg m — "and thy two 

. Hophni and Pliim dead n — bars the 

father's heart bleeds. Si tnusl have befeti the 

struggle of I 1 .*- spirit under the pressure of this cumu- 
lative agony, but it bears nobly up. Ah, but there I 

rier woe 1 ehind : " And the ark of God pp. 



OD. 121 

Ami it came to pass when he made mention of the ark 

doI tiil then, never till then - that he fell 

from off the seal backward by the Bide of the gate, and 

meek brake, and he died." The grand old man : he 

may haye been feeble in restraint and criminal in 

indulgence, bul there is majesty about this his closing 

oe which redeems his errors and shrines him with 

I and true. The patriot could survive the dis- 

>r of his country; the judge, though weeping Bore, 

Id be submissive under the slaughter of the people; 

father, Ids heart rent the while with remorseful 

dm : Id have upborne under the double bc- 

reavemenl : but the saint swooned away Ins life when 

deeper affliction was narrated of the disaster that had 

happened to the ark of God. "And it came to pass 

that when he made mention of the ark of God that lie 

fell from off the scat backward by the side of the gate, 

and his neck brake, and he died." 

Brethren, this is just the character, the type of cha- 

* hat we covet for the churches of to-day — men of 

broad rge-hoarted and kindly in their human 

by, bating not a jot in all earthly activities and 

philanthropy, but reserving their highest solicitudes for 

.ice of the Lord Jesus Christ, "An 

impossible combination,' 3 scoffers are ready to observe 

ad unlovely even if it were possible. The narrow 

fanaticism will contract the human affection; the man 

will be bo absorbed in the possibilities of the Bhall-b< 

to forget the into w; he will live in a 

6 



129 SOLICITUDE FOB THK AkK OF GOD, 

world of the ideal, and the life that now is, and that 
presses upon ns so incessantly on every side, wiH dege- 
nerate into a brief history of dwarfed charities and 
aimless being.' 3 Nay, surely nut -<», my brother. That 
love must ever he the kindliest, even on its human side, 
which has the furthest and the most open vision. That 
cannot be either a small or a scanty affection which 
takes eternity within il and range. The Christ- 

ian, the more he real;.. I 'hristianity, and embodies 

ir, pervaded by an affection, 

I only by the limits of humanity. 

•• p . 
P ■ 

And this low, which the th >u ternity thus makes 

ind( 1 by the same thought abofcc the 

inij • themseb es to individual 

chai id Btamp of humanity 

id disc d in the outcast and 

ting, an offspring 
of the I ►ivine. 

A'.'l tl ii of character, is the chaw 

which we covel for you. STou will find very many 
>ture in which, in words full, lull t<> 
rflowing, of the warmest human affection, regard 
for the spiritual o ' tatioi] i « »l)t ru- 

sion, l>ut in d( •' incidental beauty, to be 

the reigni] of the soul. Who can for a 

momenl doul t ti * ion of the he- 



• i». 123 

loved disciple, who, loving a1 first, drani in b deeper 
lovii as he lay upon i he Ms tei^s bos< mi, and to 

whom, as the fittest for such a mission) was committed 
the charge of that meek sufferer with a sword in her 
bearl — the Bad and saintly mother of our Lord I Listen 
to kis Balntation to Gains the well-beloved : w ' I wish 

>ve all things "—this is my chiefest and mosl fervent 
desire — u I wish above all things that thou maj 
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 
This is the principal thing after all. Remember David 
and all his afflictions. Sec the persecuted monarch 
fleeing from his infuriated and bitter enemies, hunted 
like a hart upon the mountains, lodged, with small 

ite and diminished train, in some fortress of Engedi or 
m some cave of Adullam ! Of what dreams he in his 
solitude I What are the memories that charge his 
waking hours? Does he sigh for the palace and the 
purple, for the sceptre and the crown? Xo — Hark! 
His royal harp, long silent, trembles again into melody! 
*• Eow amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! 
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of 

Lord : my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living 
God." B ■ him again when he is crossing the brook 
Kedron, when the hearts of his people have been stolen 

:n him by his vile and flattering son ; when he has lost 

vn and is in danger of losing his life; what is his 

ohiefest anxiety in that time of adversity, and in that 

;' peril? "And the king said unto Zadok, carry 

back the ark of God into the eitv. \( J shall find favor 



121 SOLICITUDE FOK THE AUK OF GOP. 

in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me agfcin, and 
show me both it and his habitation." As if lie had 
Baidj "The ark of God — all that is tender and all that is 
sacn d are in my history a d with the ark of Gted 

tarry back the ark of God into the city. I am 
limited like a hart upon my own mountain*; I have 
no longer a sc< f authority ; I am going ttpon a 

precarious expedition; L know not what maybeeome 
of me. Carry hack the ark. DonM let it >li:iro mir 
fori il be exp< Bed to insult and pill* 

and the ch; ' war. Carry l»aek the ark carefully. 

Whatever hec rry hark the ark of (i<»<l 

h I Wander in exile, lie down in 
POWj and am at Ia8l 

lint what need of multi] . : his 

e which 

I - ad hallowed, which w I to 

en the ha] ; in r< oow red tVec- 

of bond ruck 

og, " I ! Babj Ion thnv we 

a; y< . ept when v. mbered Zion." 

And tfaj .I thren, th Ction of charac- 

character we covel for you. A- Olirotii 

vo;; il. I; t affrc- 

. : •• The Lord loveth the gstefi 6tf / 
..an all the dwellings of Jacob." It is the hi«di- 
affectioi b incarnate Bon: "The zefe] 6f thine 

house hath ie ii].. n It la the highert afffectioi) ef 

the Ajx man : u Neither count 



I my life dear unto myself, so that 1 might finish my 
with joy, and the mini- 1 ry which I have 
Lord Jesus, to testify the < lospel of I 

I rod.'' 

Ob, that God would raise up amoi Ellis in our 

itual Israel, who, with reverent and earnest solici- 
tude, would have their hearts tremble for the ark of 
God, His heart trembled for the ark of God, and 
Because the ark of God was in peril. Jn 
peril from its enemies — in greater peril from its frien 
And, brethren, the cause and kingdom of Christ, pure 
; and undefiled before God and the Father, the 
faith for which we are valiantly and constantly to con- 
in this hazard to-day. If. also is in peril : in 
ril from its enemies; in greater, deeper, deadlier peril 
from .ids. 

These are the points which I will endeavor, briefly, 

I helping me, to illustrate on the present occasion. 
I. In the iirst place, the ark of God is ix peril from 
m 9« There never was a period, perhaps, when 
the ark of God was carried out into a hotter bal 
or was snrrounded by fiercer elements of antagonism. 
Th LCe, idolatry ) holding six hundred mil- 

lion- of our race in thrall. Idolatry, which has sne- 

Ln banishing from their perceptions all thou 
pf the true God — which holds all that vast world of 
mind under the tyranny of the vilest pas-ions, and 
under the dark and sad eclipse both of intellectual and 
spiritual knowledge. 



1 U') .: THE ARK OF GOD. 

There is, again, imposture^ reigniug in Mohammedan 
realms over one hundred and forty millions of souls; 
imposture, accommodated with the most exquisite inge- 
nuity to the prejudices of the population anion-- which 
it was to spr< uplimenting LI jolc the 

Jew, speaking respectfully of Jesus to seduce the nomi- 
nal Christian, offering a voluptuous heaven bo the 
gan, an«l gathering in the indifferent by 
the wholesale c Bword— imposture thus 

I and perpi of the fairest pro- 

in foul and fer :n until 

now, 

Th( c >rrupti< uisti- 

anity b; al admixtures, blinding the 

v. orld ■ I Ijj&g 

tqk-j 
■ I Belli] q from 

I;n; 

atheist and libertine, infidel and Jew, may 
join hai - wvar the 

broi insl the 

Land). 

Tin . cold and poulless 

thing, that myBtery of iniquity, which doth already 
work, chili: ardor of the church and hardening 

the unbelief of the world— skepticism, bribing intellect 
to Bustain it with Bophistry, and genius to foster its 
errors, and poetry to embalm them in song — skepticism! 



GOD. 

that travels through the universe in Bearch of truth 
ami beauty, thai il may enfeeble the our by its ml-. 

i, and blighl the comeliness of the other by its wintry 
breath. 

All these, enemies of Christianity from the beginning, 

and retaining their ancienl halo against it, now are tlm 

ilistines i spiritual tlcld. They are no! content, 

in former times, with holding their own ; they have 

a resolute purpose of aggression. They have habit, and 

numbers, and prejudice on their side; they have war- 

ad a priesthood, zealous and valiant in their 

They have no chivalry about them to restrain 

them from any style of warfare. They smart under 

multiplied defeats, and they know that in the heart of 

every man in the world there are interests and sympa- 

their favor. There is reason, then, is there not, 

for thai cry, "Men of Israel, help!" there is reason, 

I solemn reason, why the Elis of our Israel 

by the wayside, watching, for their hearts 

r the ark of God. It is not necessary to 

enlarge upon this point. I do not want to preach 

lly to-niglit in reference to these, extraneous mat- 

— matters, I mean, extraneous to the Church of 

Christ, which hinder the ] - of the work of God in 

world. I want to come nearer home in discussing 

point : 

II. Just a- it was in the day- of Larael, SO it IS now — 

::, DEEPER, DEADLIER PERIL 

ros. Vainly might the Philistines have 



128 boijcitudr wom the auk of god> 

fought, vainly might the foe have striven, if tliere had 
not been in the heart of the camp the springs of deep 
and destructive evils, if the chosen children of Israel 
had not been traitors and unworthy of thenwl 
And there are, it' yon will only examine into the Bubject, 
dating between the eanses which 
prevented the rictoryof Israel of old, and the ea:. 
which - with such fearful disaster against the ]>r<>- 

:' the truth of I tod to-day. 
l. In the first place, there was in the camp of I 

, a blind reliance upon 

irnal forms. The !-:';<• litcs, tliough their liw> wait 

loose and thei e iniquity, felt sate in 

battle, they bad \ ] nee 

of the ark A' cared nothing about it, 

were u are ; but in the 

hottr of danger, they ralli ralot of 

h, and ' * fad, and in 

place of humblings on account vaunted* that 

the Lord \\ ;t- in th< , and conveyed what 

ed t-. I symbol <•!' his presence with 

arrogant and obtn i camp. And it 

is to It feared, brethren, that there is much of this vain 
and formal confid ing our piety now. Ate 

there not h upon our Bkirts, ostensibly one with 

in fellowship and spirit, many of whom we stand in 

doubt h I tod; and over whose defective consistency 

we mourn? Nay, arc we eael Bar 

hhnself — let the spirit of searching come in — are we out 



\od, L29 

all i mpromise, if not, indeed, of betrayal I 

( )ur church, our organizal ion, our influence, the decorum 
, the activity <>i our agencies, ap attractive 
ministry, a respectable gathering, a well-furnished sanc- 
tuary* a well-replenished treasury- have not these 
len our hearts away from the Divine, the spiritual, 
i heavenly] Our spirit — bounds it after the Divine 
Spirit as it once did? Our ear— listens it as intently 
his whispers i Our eye — has it as keen an insight 
Lda coming ] Or is the very symbol of his dwelling, 
which, in the olden time, transformed the wilderness 
from the sepulchre into the home, become an occasion 
ain, if not an object of idolatry ? Oh, for some brave 
old llezekiah to come amongst us and write Nehushtan 
in the mutilated brass, and break it into pieces before 
LI Do not mistake us; we are no iconoclasts, to 
6 all organizations, and mutilate the whole and 
symmetry v( truth, and with distempered zeal 
to tear away the inscriptions on her holy and beautiful 
house. We rejoice in precious ordinances, and crowded 
LCtuaries, and in those grand institutions of benevo- 
lence which redeem our age from lethargy. But when 
the trust of the individual or of the church is placed in 
ingSj God's Holy Spirit is dishonored, and the 
life of our religion becomes of dwarfed growth and 
kly habit, from the very care with which v n it 

from the breath of heaven. Brethren, are there not in 
Divine Word many intimation- of the tendency which 

we now deplore, to let the ywy hi and holiest 

6 



130 icrruDK for the auk of god. 

itoms degenerate into the indifference of formalism ! 
That the brazen Berpent lifted ap in the wiHeru< 
received in after ages idolatrous homage, 1 have already 
reminded yon. And such was the danger of idolatry to 
the children of Israel, that God would not trust any one 
them to be present at the funeral of their great law- 
r. No human eye must witness his obsequies, but, 
fhis God-prepared sepulchre, the 
Lordly li Iked, and the bald old eagle flew. The 

combined power of healii ech constrained 

men of i. stra for the Apostles Bar- 
PauL hi stition, which had 

1 him a> a murderer wh< I ang, in 

w hm he declined to d 
d in the time of th< temple bad becoi 

a b erchandi cummin were of 

mt than right and truth, and enlarged 

I'li; -I publi . a countenance j 

ternaturally Bad, were the Uw enerate substi- 

tutes for a ad a holy life. And, I 

thr< oly to be on our guard in this 

mail Bame tendency still. The formal 

hip, and, if we 
are tchful, will eat oul the hearl of our religion. 

If, as individuals, our tr in our attendance oii 

reli| of sacramental 

eml ad cur I tip in church communion, <<r 

the comelii . i i i rnal moralities, and if, in I 

strength of these, unfurnished with the higl 



BOU( 1 1 1 DI i OB i in. IBS OB GOD. 1 ." I 

the Divine Spirit, we go out to dare the dangers and 
fight the battles of our daily life ; and if, aa a church, as 
a confederacy of Christian people, we talk about our 
numbers, and our agency, and our influence, what are 
ire doing but perpetrating— perpetrating, too, with Btill 
greater aggravation and enormity— the error and the 
.-in of the people of Israel of old i We carry the ark 
into the battle, but wo leave the God of the ark behind 
os; and there is strong and solemn aeed that the Klis 

our Lsrael Bhould sit by the wayside, watching, for 
their hearts tremble for the ark of God. 

l\ L observe, secondly, that there was incon 
in the camp of Israel. The times were times of apostasy 
and of idolatry ; the priests, who should have been the 
leaders of the people, committed abominable iniquity ; 
there were sensuality and oppression in the service of 
the holy shrine, so that men abhorred the offering of 
the Lord, and, by consequence, the whole land became 
infected with the contagion of this evil example. There 
was still an affectation of reverence for the sanctuary, 
and of attachment to the ark; but the Lord of the 

ctuary and the God of the ark were not the true 
objects of worship and of love. And is it not so largely 
now? Are there not amongst those who habitually 

her thei for worship, numbers, not, perhaps, 

nsly insincere, but strangely defective! and 

numbers more — spots in our feasts of charity — who come 

among us like so many whited Bepulchres, all symmetry 

without, but all rottenness within: Achans, wh< 



132 Bouom . a the auk of god. 

rapacious covetousness can hardly hold itself from the 
prey: Reubens, whose unstable bouIs are luring them- 
selves to their own d< >n : Judases, with fawning 

lip, d, but hiding in the coward h 

guilty purpose of betrayal! Are there nut Buch 
am 9! Xes, there are those who intrude them- 

selv( nding all human scrutiny, 

wearing d remaining in their 

i in; , until whelming pressure 

cm indal upon the cause thai 

they have 1 And i are we 

ame pf 

1 d on the pari of men w b eept in 

impi 1 and in blaspl - belpin 

of the ark by * only 

an imposing thing for public ] 

ae li«»i;r 

of rejoicing . . nqy 

imperils alike our own Bah iln> 

can Chur h mu epy 

individual in the ( I thoroi 

in his piety, It may be, or it 
may not be, th 

ned 

that !. better sin ; if 

be, i ' name let him ;' bis bop 
will • him al 

his reft k mercy of that Bavioxp- 

>m be k. I betrayed. And what is cur 



rci 1 1 I > I : FOR TUB ABE OF G< >D. I 33 

condition] Grey hairs have come upon a , of 

i •;' lassitude and age, and we have not 
known it. Oh I a more Bincere and decisive godlim 
ifl wanted from us all, if we would either pass untar- 
nished through the terrible temptations of the world, or 

found worthy to bear the vessels of the Lord. 
Brethren, we must resolve thai whatever of insincerity 
may have attached to our profession shall at once be 
forsaken, and that we will from this time forward, God 
helping us, renew our baptismal vows, and be valiant 
for the truth upon the earth. If in our pursuit of plea- 
sure there has been the indulgence of frivolity, and per- 
haps of licentiousness — if in our high-reaching ambition 
for renown there have been oppression and time-serv- 
ing, and the concealment of principle, and practices that 
are corrupt and unworthy — if in our labor for compe- 
tence there has been compliance with unhallowed cus- 
tom, or complicity with wrong — if we have followed 
the maxims of trade, rather than the maxims of truth — 
if there has been over-reaching and cupidity in our 

amercial life, we have sinned, and our profession of 
religion only makes our sin more truly scandalous, and 
more completely sin. And it behooves us all now, from 
this very hour, to put away the sin from us with Loath- 
ing, and fall humbled and penitent before God. We 
must have holiness — inner and vital heart-holinesi — it' 
we would cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of 

trt. 

Brethren, when I see out in the broad world the 



134: BOLIGITUDE FOR THE AJEK I 

palpable inconsistencies of proi f religion — a man 

devout in the sanctuary and d< Le at home, saintly 

on the Sabbath and Bordid all the week, ostentatious in 
the enterpri benevolence, but grinding bid own 

workmen and tyrannical poor — when J 

man, osibly in heaven, di 

the keenest worldling around him in the race erf fashion, 

<>r in th< 1 — when I .-re a man, wlmw ivli- 

;iie di\ ' 30ri0US in his 

Bpirit, and narrow in d— when I Bee a man, to 

whom God has ( rtune in stewardship, grudging 

to dispense to him thai is in | when 1 BOS a man, 

whose I >■ ine Bavi I his own < - for in- 

follow I 
harshlj Id ; or when in 

1 Bti vimli- 

liing 

system 

ipholdii war— w hat ha 

think bu in the i I Israel, the 

ark mcircumcised to battle, 

and tli- lemn, and passionate need 

— that ' >uld Bit upon the v. 

Bid( , for their hearts tremble for tin- aril of 
Q 

And then there was, in and it is 

the last particular that I shall mention — tl 

the camp i .1 d<> nol moan 

tu say that there v. —a natural 



FOB TH1 • 'i>. 1 - 5 

and common wish for victory a desire to free them- 
selves from the Philistine thrall. Bui patriotism, to be 
real and to bo hallowed, mu6l have &ll-heartedn< ; 
and this was lacking. Thej bad no confidence in their 
leaders; there was among them (he element of dis- 
union. The laxity of their lives had of necessity en- 
tnewhat their moral principles, so thai the 
high and chivalrous inspirations of the true lover of bis 
intry were emotions that were above them and 
beyond them. Hence, they went out into the battle- 
field, but they went with paralyzed arms; conscience 
made cowards of them, and, recreant and panic-stricken, 
they fled at the first attack of the foe. And, brethren, 
ean there be any question that a lack of whole-hearted 
earnestness is one of the chief sources of peril to the ark 
( rod to-day I Oli, if Laodicea is to he the type of the 
.reh, it is no wonder that the world sneers and 
perishes! If religion, clad in silken sheen, has become 
a patronized and fashionable thing — a something that 
men cleave to as they cleave to the other items of a res- 
pectable life — something that they wear as a BOtt of 
armorial bearing for which they pay small duty either 
to God or man — it is no wonder that the world should 
be heedless of the message, and should subside into the 

drowsy monotony in which the messengers dream away 
their live-. Brethren, the poisonous trees do little harm 
in the vineyard; they are uprooted a- soon as they are 

'i. It is the barren trees, that cumber the ground 

and mock the husbandman, that are the curse.- of tin 4 



136 SOLICITUDE FOR THE AUK OF 

vineyard of the Lord. Cases of flagrant apostasy but 
little binder the progress of the work; their 111009- 

30 palpable and manifest They are the true 
hinderers, under the shadow of whose luxury, and idle- 
ness, and frivolity, the Church sits al ease in Xion, 
while they are eating out its inner life a> the vampire 
sucks out the life-blood of the victim that it is all the 
while fanning with its wings. Oh, brethren, we need 
all of us a baptism for a deeper and diviner earnesto 
that we i; r our testimony for God, We air a 

wit: ( ihurch ; thi • c and our mis- 

B .*. alas I our witness has ies been feeble 

and has boi We bave been altogether 

too Becular and v nol been prophets 

— i: unmering, : tg, blushing child- 

i" tin* m< bidden 

us deliver. We ha rality rather than hoU- 

renity rather than . Bmootb things f<> 

be world rather than Btrong thin-- to conquer 
the world. We bave been content to grasp all the 

world's Wealth and honor that we Could, and then, in 

great wreck, some on boards and some <>n hroken 

cea of !:■'■ ship, to gel ourselves Bafe to land, rather 

than, freighted with heavenly treasure, to cast anchor 

in the lair haven with colors flying, and amid the idad 

welcome <>t' the mi. a on Bhon . Oh, there is roojn, 

brethren, indeed there is, for the taunt of the infidel: 
"Ye Christians lei a- I am; ye do no! I>eli< 

in your own By Stem J it' you did, like a fixe in J 



\ov; 187 

il would burn you into action, if by any means 
unc.' 1 I >!i ! everything around d 
lethargic and this professional piety. 
El \ :-\ thing is in earnest — suns in their constant Bhining, 
and rivers in tlieir ceaseless flow; the breeze thai 
nol day nor night to bear health upon its wings, the 
ring tripping up the winter, th time hastening 

on the harvest— all are activity, faltering not, any i 
«>f them, in the sure and Bteady purpose of their being. 
Error is in earnest ; Pagans are self-devoted ; Mohamme- 
danism has her resolute and valiant sons; Popery com- 
passes Bea an<l land to make one proselyte ; infidels walk 
Warily and constantly, scattering the seeds of unbelief. 
in earnest; the sons of enterprise do not 
slumber; the warriors — how they hail the clarion call, 
and ri; erly into the battle; the students— how 

they consume the oil of the lamp and the oil of life to- 
her : Mammon's votaries — are they the laggards in the 
i Oh, everything around us seems to be lashed 
into intensest energy, while we — ingrates that we are, 
&od forgive us! — with the noblest work in the univei 
t<» do, and the most royal facilities to do it with; with 
the obligations of duty, and gratitude, and brotherhood, 
and *hip; with the vows of discipleship upon us; 

h death at our d<><>r> and in OUT homes ; and with the 
I, wailing sound, as if it came from places where nun 
re and are not: "No man hath cared for my soul" 
— we are heedless and exclusive, Belfish and self- 
jrandizing, and, worst of all, as self-satisfied with our 



138 SOLICITUDE FOR THH AKK ( 

Ldged obedience, and our scanty effort, and our 
irtlese pray* E no sinners were in peril and as 

if no Christ had died. And is it really sol Has that 
motive lost its poweri Is Mammon really 

more potent than I t1 J I a- the crucifix a holier 

miration than the CTOBSl 1- it true that war can 
move men'fi imulate their souls, 

and trade intensify their i 3, and ambition flame 

their blood '. a: hristianity nothing hut a worn-out 

.1 — a dim memorial of ancient power — an ex- 
tinguished volcano, with no lire Blumbering in its 
ghty heart! Da it trueJ Thy cross, O Jesus, haa it 

1-.-; Ltfl :■: : draw all men 

untotheel 'I } Ol . boundless, unfathom- 

able, all-em rain n<> longer the souls 

for whom I I yours to m aweof 

I lo<L But, oh ! 
when vi around ua — when 

w i en the . : 

of our d I --what 

i: that the Elis of our Israel, who, with all 

ir Eaull -. rings quiver in solicitude 

for the in; / , should sit by the wayside, 

watching, I their hearts tremble for the ark of 

LI 

May God the II- >lj ( > t come down, and write 1 
truths upon the i >f all, for his na ike I 



THE 1NCAI:\ATI<>.\ OF CHRIST. 

M Forasmuch then aa the children are partakers of flesh and blood, 
he also himself likewise took part of the same." — IIi:n. ii. 11. 

S >me eighteen hundred years ago, in the land of 
Judah, and in the city of Jerusalem, a strange resile 
aesa had come upon the public mind. If a stranger 
just about that time had visited the Holy City, and 
bad made himself acquainted with the inner life of its 
inhabitants, he would have found them all eng 
with one absorbing theme. It had superseded, as 
matter of interest, commerce, and conquest, and the 
intrigues of faction, and the subjects of ordinary poli- 
ties. It had become the unconfessed hope of matrons 
and the deep study of earnest men. So prevalently 
had it spread, that it became identified with every 
thinking of the Hebrew mind, and with every beating 
of the Hebrew heart. Tin's topic was the advent of a 
who had been promised of God unto their 
fathers. Their holy books contained circumstantial 
directions, both as to the Bignsof his coming, and as 

to the period about which he might be expected to 

i j 



140 THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 

appear, and these various prophecies converged to 
their fulfillment There were rumors, moreover, of 
curtain meteoric i >, which in Eastern coun- 

tries were deemed the luminous heralds of the birth 
of a great king; and the heart of many a patriot Jew 
would throb moi as in his \ r ain dream 

material empire he saw the Messiah, already, in vision, 
triump] . and his followers flushed 

ipoiL In the midst of this national exp 

fccurring in 
a quarter from which * world would hi 

turned heedlessly or in scorn. The national census • 
decreed to be taken t ish provn 

in the til: tU8 ( -ar. 

In i i man, with 

his hou own — that 

I crowded tl a in tin thle- 

hen . Judah ; 

I under tribute t<> 
tun In the stable of that 

mean hostelry a child was born. There was 

nothing t the < ordinary 

moment 
of I from angel hai 

rang through t' !)• thlehcm and rai tehed the 

watchful Bhepherds with 1 harmonies. Small 

space had passed ere wonderii beheld a star 

of unusual brightness hovering over thai obsevre dwell- 



'in . [ON OF OUR] 111 

ml 1«\ aud by the inn was thrown into confusion 

by tin* arrival of a company of foreigners from afar 

rarthj and richly apparelled, who made their 

» to the stable with costly gifts and spices, which 

they presented to the new-born babe, and bowed the 

kih e hira in homage, as to a royal child. Rapidly 

t the glad tidii greal joy — passed from Kp to 

Up, until the whole city was full of them — scorned by 

haughty Pharisees with scoffs and doubting— -hailed 

with devoul gladness by the faithful few who waited 

for the consolation of Israel — agitating all classes of 

(he people— startling the vassal monarch on his throne 

— "Unto yon is born this day in the city of David a 

Saviour, who is Christ the Lord/' 

Brethren, it is ours in this day to rejoice in the bless- 
; which on that day descended on mankind. Blind- 
deed, hath happened unto Israel, so that they 
• the glorions vision. And there are many among 
selves to turn away their eyes from the sight. But 
the advent of the Saviour has been the chiefest joy of 
the multitudes who once struggled like ourselves on 
earth, and who now triumph through his grace in 
ln-awn ; and multitudes more, rejoicing in his true 
humanity, and happy in their brotherhood with Im- 
manuel, not to thank God for the unspeakable 

•. "forasmuch a- the children are partakers of 
.1 and blood, he also himself likewise took part of 
same." 

The gnat fact, of course, which the Apostle wishes 



142 TOE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 

to impress upon us, is our Saviour's assumption of hu- 
manity. And there are certain salient chai sties 
erf that incarnation, apon which, in order that we may 
have it presented in all its aspects of blessing before 
our miii'U we may not nnprofitably dwell. 

I. AW' observe) in the first place, than, that tbM 
Saviour's assumption of iumamiy was an act of or* 
ri.Mji 0ONBB8CEN8IOK. Jt is obviously impossible that 
the language in which the Apostle here refers to Christ 
could hi' used legitimately of any being | d efeseiF 

tially of the nature of lle>h and blood. The blllgUfl 

before us, appli* d to any mere man, even the holi 

d the most heroic, would he impertinent and with- 
out meaning. Th ly implied the fact <»t' 
his pn and of his pre >• in a nature 

other and higher than that which lie assumed. In a 
Mil- the implication is farther made, that 

this preexisten in a nature other and higher than 

angelic For in hi- descent from the highest 
>ver and Bave, he took not h<>id on angels — they 
perished without redemption and without hope; but 
he took hold nn the Beed of Abraham. In the fo tmup 
chapter the A- rather largely illustrates Ids supe- 

riority to the angel: "When he bringeth in the tir>t- 

:i into the world, he saith, Let all the anj 
God worship him/' J when a crown prim 

a travel in* realm, all the choicest of the 

nobility are ted to wail upon his bidding and fol- 

low in hi- train, so when He bringeth his firel begotten 



mi: in. \k.\ \ i \( >\ i •! OHfi 148 

iii«» the world a foreign realm to him — he Bai . u l.« I 
all the 8 G "I" all the principalities and po¥ 

heavenly places— worship, bow down to, wail upon, 

minister t<> bim. Again, "of the angels he Baith, WTio 

gels spirits, and his ministers a flame of 

Bui unto the Son he Baith, Thy throne, God, 

forever and ever; a Bceptre of righteousness is the 

of thy kingdom." From tlie Bcope and tenor 

of these passages — indeed, from the scope and tenor of 

the Apostle's entire argument, we arc Bwift to conclude, 

and we are bold to affirm, the proper and unoriginated 

Lhead of the Saviour; that it was God made man 

man to die. Yes, brethren, that stoop of illimitable 

isness \\ as from the highest to the lowest. And 

in mysterious union with the child-heart of that uncori- 

iled Divinity slumbered. That weary 

and hungry traveller along the journey of life — it was 

ah 7 8 fellow! That meek sufferer whose head is 

\ed to drink the cup of bitterness to the dregs — it 

- the true God, and eternal life I Strange mania 

between the finite and the infinite; incomprehensible 

union between the divine and human ! 

There are scoffers in the world, I know, who dismiss 
Btery of the incarnation, and deride it as the fig- 
ment of fancy, or as the vision of fanaticism. They i 
two kind- mostly: some who try everything by the 

ndard of their own idea-, and who exalt their own 

si oi* no great tallness, and which preju- 
dice has dwarfed into yet pigniier stature — into 



14-1 THK INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 

lute dictatorship over the realm of mind ; and others 
more degraded, who seek a for their desperate 

wic 3t the • des- 

perate infidelil 3 the narrative of the in- 

carnati is a mysl aething that is not 

patent to the aver to be the only 

of knowledge. All the while they live in a 
3 world win sands of 

which their 1 :annot c In the ordinary 

e daily which Provide] 

pou r churlish shore 

■ d not They 

Mian aoght. 

Th( tand thai snbtile 

ani>ni which tl how tl 

call lii Is them 

i ty moi : i raj.t, . vltli marveHcos 

in« ■ re no n 

mi: eptical in niat- 

and whrrr the 
it would be i ign: "F< 

thou 1 . hing find onl God ; canst thon Bad bnl 

Almighty 
Br Christ is i rteijp — an 

Bat were there no 

."'. Oil tl .ii, in t 1 

( I HOW ill- c; 

Th< ■ idual ol ; in vi|. 

e humbleness; looked on by Ins kindred accord 



THB [»C \i:.\.\ HON OF 0HE1 1 I ~> 

to the flesh with coldness, if Dot with dislike; with no 
ajrii unections, with do noble patronage; till- 

all to whom he ministered, with a strange can- 
•, that he required absolute service; that he had no 
preferments in his gift ; that he had no bribes to win 
the allegiance of the sordid ; that it was more than 
likely, it' they followed him, that they would have to 

sake all el6e, to part at once with all that was lucra- 
tive and all that was endearing; to he secluded from 
Jesiastical privilege; to be traduced by slander; to 

be limited by persecution ; nay, to hold life cheap, for 
whosoever killed them, in the blind zeal of his partisan- 
ship, thought he had done God service. Xow, look at 
that individual. In spite of all these disadvantages, by 
the mere force of his teaching and of his life, he gathers 
a multitude of followers ; charms the fisher from the 
lake ; charms the soldier from the standard ; charms — 
ingest of all — the publican from the loved seat of 
rtom ; and not only these, who might, perhaps, be 
Imagined to risk little by the venture, but charms the 
physician from his practice, the scholarly student from 
the feet of his master, the ruler from his pride and 
luxury, the honorable counsellor from the deliberations 
the Sanhedrim. The chief authorities combine 
'list him; but his doctrine spreads. His name is 
ainted as a traitor; but he is held dearer than even'. 
Eia death gratifies his bloodthirsty and relentless P 
but his disciples rally, and his cause lives on. Eis 
tomb is jealously guarded and h< ally sealed, but 



1-iG TDK DfOABHATXOfl <>F ciIKl-r. 

it id somehow found empty notwithstanding* He shows 
himself alive by many infallible proofs. He e fter 

forty days, from the crest of a mountain, and he has 
kblifihed an empire in the mind- of thousands Upon 
thousands, which promises to he extensive as the world, 
and t«> he permanent as time. And yon ask us to be- 
lieve that all thisconld be accomplished by the unaided 

man lit - ! Were not 

that a mystery than all other mysl reatar and >ur- 

passing far! Then, look at that individual in the days 
ot' . He i ttony of nufeenms 

and ui. '■■. culous power. He 

has power are still at 

his bidding, and the law! ieya him. Ho has 

1 over vegetable I 
for liable, and five loaves 

and tv, i -11 r,j>, | kg, into a royal pe- 

rt for full five 1 I Ee has power over 

• advancing 
ad at hi foul demani kill. 

lie r sickness, for the aumbed limbs 

the par i, as hr . Into strengthened 

manhood, and the leprosy Bcalee off from its victim, 
him comely as a child. He has powe* over 
maiden rises from her Bhroud ; 
and the young mai jate of the city to gr 

his mercj y to burial ; and weepiiq; 

clasp their raj brother, a four days' dweller in 

the tomb. And \ n> to believe that all tin's can 



ill 1 1 4 

haw been accomplished by the unaided resources of a 
v man like ourselves I Were n<>t thai a mystery 
than all other mysteries greater and surpassing farl 
u Ah/' hut miv some, "he was a good man, we acknow- 
ledge ; a gnat teacher, a model man, a representative 
mam the highest man, God specially honored him. He 
may almost be said, indeed, to have had an inferior and 
derived Divinity. It is no wonder, therefore, thai he 
• uld thus perform miracles, and that he should thus 
have founded a dominion*' 3 Nay, pardon me, but tins 
only deepens the mystery, for tin's model man, whose 
frown was dismissal from his presence, of whose inimit- 
able morals Rousseau, the infidel, said, that if the life 
and death of Socrates were those of an angel, the life 
and death of Jesus were those of a God — this model 
ra claimed all his life to he Divine, made the impres- 
Q of his pretensions upon the minds of the Jews so 
ong that ihey stoned him for blasphemy, received 
Divine honors without once rebuking the offerers, 
" thought it not robbery to be equal with God," and 
distinctly predicted that he should come again in ihc 
clouds of heaven. Oh, Jesus of Nazareth cannot pos- 
sibly be simply a good and benevolent man. There is 
BO escape from this alternative — no middle position in 
Which he can abide — he ls either an impostor or God. 
Now, unbeliever, you who dismiss the mystery of the 
incarnation, and treat it with solemn scorn or with de- 
risive laughter, solve this mystery of your own. You 
pass through life in your pride and in your skepticism, 



148 THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 

scouting tliis mystery of Godhead, and yet shut up to 
the far greater mystery — either a good man.wfrp has 
spoken falsehood, or an impostor who has cheated the 
world. But we, with reverent trust, and from the 
lowest depth from which gratitude can spring, can Bay, 
"Great is the mystery of godlh I in 

the flesh." 

II. I ol . adly, THE >A\ i SUMPTIOB 

HUH BUT Vol.lN- 

taky. This, h i the fore- 

ilusion of his Divinity. Being Divine, he 

could b rwhelming necessity. 

To accommodate the ih. to human 

■ 

infirmity, \ k of G< d sometimes as if 

influenced by external things. I ' 

ay Divine I Belf-originating. 

us ( !hri . ler the bond of no 

asible ob . Law v. as him elf in spoken precept. 

• universe. Mercy 
own loving-kindn 
:\ of wisdom, every 
administral , every act <»f 

omi his own in independent action, 

hut in the ban nature. It 

La manj i - Divine nal ure was concerned, 

that hi iption of humanity mu6t have been dis- 

interested and voluntary; the npwelling of his 

tenderness for the hapL tturee he had mad.-. 

There . : in the bj ity of his offering 



TJB Dl 'ii::: 1 {:* 

which i it from the suspicion of in j u tice, and 

which vindicates the Father from the acci of 

those who charge him with vindictivencss and cruelty. 
I' v.' aid *eei i, indeed, as if the Saviour had fore een, 
in the days of his flesh, thai there Mould rise auda- 

os rebels, who would thus ca6l a slur upon his 
Father's kind] for he defends him by antici- 

pation: "Therefore doth my Father love me, because 
I lay down my lite, that I might take it again. No 
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. 1 
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it 

in." 

But as to the human nature which vicariously suf- 
feredj you remember that at the time there was the 
pro] ; of incarnation, there was also the pro] 

tion of equivalent recompense. The promise of the joy 
was coeval with the prospect of suffering. Hence the 
Apostle: **AY~ho for the joy that was set before him 
endured the cross, despising the shame." A world ran- 

aed from the destroyer, a mediatorial kingdom erected 
upon the ruins of earth's spoiled thrones, a name that 
IS above every name, honored in heaven by prostrate 

dience and undying song, honored on earth by every 

ing lip and every bending knee — this was the 

6 him; and for the sake of nil this he 

I patiently the cross, despised, looked down with 

mpt upon, mysterious and inconceivable 

me. Besides, there can be no availableness in 
exacted Buffering. There is something in the voluntari- 



L50 THE INCARNATION OF CHR] 

Sfl of the incarnation which at once exalts our i\ 
rence and augments our affection for our Surety and 
Friend. We judge of the excellency of virtue by the 
willinghood with which it is pi L We cannot 

enter into a pT , re all under 

the bond oi mon obli e all know- 

that the virtue >s1 brightly which i> prac- 

1 amid ber tlian that 

which ity is i: . and whnv 

Ltable. Vi< w ed in tliis light, what a 

W( ;t!: : . -ar- 

nati I q midst 

: U B I : nd i . I •• I come. In 

i do thv 
will, O ni; •• I 

do thy wilL ,J I rod 

this Lns1 

tial g in human flesh, tfee 

wandering . irtion and tivacln 

the abhorred i i \ il, the baptism pf ; 

■'■■■ n of d I ] i!ir 

Father^ count . And into 

this ni E . darkness Jesus delighted to 

r, for tl fallen man. When he assumed 

the form oi actually incarnate, entered 

npon the work of redemption, it was with do n 

p, in no hireling spirit. It v . rneai and his 

drink ; as I to him as his dailv 

- Lee, to do the will of his Father which was in 



II. 1 .'• I 

Steadily pursuing one purpose, be was heed- 
all that hinder* d ; he fell irrepressible l< 
tot mplishmenl ; and his soul was like a prisoned 

1 that dashes itself for freedom against the grating 
of the cage: "I have a baptism to be baptized with ; 
v am I straitened till it be accomplished." Steadilj 
pttrsuant of thai purpose, he was heedless of all that 
hindered. Now passing through a threatening mob, 
ilow turning from an offered crown, now resisting wisely 
temptations of the enemy, now casting behind hfan 
the more dangerous, because more affectionate remon- 

- of his disciples, and now repelling the sugg 

live aid of twelve of angels from heaven. Oh, 

like ourselves, at far off, reverent distance, 

beh him in his redemptive course— wave after 

ither wave, the proud waters go over his Boul, and 

lie i off the spray, and holds on his course, unfal- 

teady, to the end — with what depth of 

should wc render him the homage of our 

hearts, and with what earnestness and self-accusaiion 

uld we take to ourselves the Lurden of every 

melancholy sigh ! 

11 For all his wounds to sinners cry — 
I Bufl for you." 

III. I observe, thirdly, the Saviour's assumption of 

HUMANITY IT ONLY CONDESCENDING AND VOLUN- 

TARY, but rr was complete. It was n<> mock assnmp- 

D of humanity. The whole nature was taken on. 



152 THE INCARNATION OF OHRXE 

lie had a human body with all its infirmities; he had a 
human soul with its completeness of faculty and its 
capability of endurance, with its every capacity, with 
its every affection. There were three 3 Which 

seemed to render this entire assumption of human 
nature 1 try. It was necessary, first, because the 

man had sinned, and upon the man, therefore must 
come the brand of Jehovah's 1 Lre. It wals n& 

.dly, that the world might have the bes! and 
utmost manifestation of God, and that humanity, 1 
gross and bewildered to comprehend ideas that were 

[ritual, might see in the Incarnate Bon the 
high* -t embodied possibility <>f being. It was ne 

. thai the fell need of the people in all ages 
of * might he supplied — the need ol 

allied to | sympathy of the 

th which was omnipotent to deliver, married to 
the tenderness that was brave and deep to feel. The 
aplete humanity of Jesus ha- been attested by abun- 
dant authentication-. In every legitimate sense of the 

Word he Wl am with man. He did not take our 

sinful nature upon him; that is only an inseparable 
''lent of humanity, it came in after the creation, 

and it should .'I. Theivloie. in 

, be was man with 
man. He was horn helph children aiv. His 

early years v. q1 in the house <> his repu 

father, working at his handicraft for bread. Elegrew 
in wisdom and in rtati ther children grow; not at 



'in. L63 

• at by the bIow ripening of years developed into 
maturity of man, When he entered on bis public 
mi: out among liia fellows, he sustained) 

Ihey did, the relationships of mutual dependence 
and help. II no Belf-elected reformer. He was 

turbulent inflamer of unholy passions. Faulty as 
was the government under which be lived, he was a 
loyal Bubject, paid the tribute money without murmur- 
ing, and submitted himself to every ordinance of man. 
He was no dark ascetic; he was a brother of the multi- 
tudes, mingling in all the grief and cheerfulness of life. 
h' men invited him to their houses, he went and sat 
down with them at their hoards. If they asked him to 
their marriage festivals, he graced them with his pre- 
and turned the water into wine; and mingled his 
with theirs w 1 n the light of their homes was 
and when some loved one was suddenly 
withdrawn. His care for them who trusted him ceased 
• with his own danger, for, having loved his own, he 
loved them to the end. His filial affection was conspi- 
cuous throughout every part of his life, and shone 
radiant as a star through the darkness of his agony. 
lie was the man Christ Jesus. How is it that you 
identity him with our nature? What are the peculiar 
by which you understand that such a 
partaker of humanity? Does human nature 
hunger? He hungered in the plain where the delusive 
D >es human nature thirsi ( He felt the 
harply upon . I ■ : uman nature wearied 



151 THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST. 

under the pressure of travelling and of toil ? lie sat 
thus nponthewelL Does hnman nature weep wnl 
den tears? Pity 'wrong them from him as he ga 
upon the fated and lost Jerusalem; and bouwvj ^wnmg 
them from him at the grave where Lazarus lav. Dors 
liunian nature shrink and fear in the prospect of im- 
pending trial, cowering beneath the apprehended peril, 
and pray that dread pangs maybe Bpared it I In the 
days of his flesh, when he poured out his supplication* 
with strong crying and tears, " he was heard) Id that he 
feared." He was the man ( Come, ye ackers 

after the Bublime, behold this man — marred enough by 
sorrow, but no! at all by Bin ; decorated with every 
grace, y< t disfigured by no blemish of mortality 5 ray* 
ingon.1 warmth and life into the hearts and tomes of 
men; with not an act thai you can trace np to selfish* 
. ad not a word thai you can brand as insincere; 
with his whole life of kindness, and his death an expia- 
tion — behold the Divine Man! Talk of the dignity of 
hnman nature— it is there, and you can find it nowh< 
in the universe beside. "The boas! of heraldry, the 
pomp of power," the skill to make canvas speak ot 
marble breathe, or to play upon men's hearts as upon a 
harp of many tunes, the mad ambition that would climb 

to fame h\ where the trampled lie, and where 

the red rain drops from many a heart's Mood — what e 
their claim.- to his! Hush, ye candidates for greatn< 

and let him Bpeafc alone. Erase meaner names frond 
thy tablets, thou applauding WOrld, and chronicle this 



in; Off LENJ nOH 01 * BR] I 55 

ttmfl Instead Bhrine it m your living hearts, those of 
yon who fcrnsl in bis atonement, and who come bj his 
mediation nnto God; grave it there, deeper than all 

or name — the man Christ Jesus. 

IV. 1 observe, fourthly, the dstoarnatioh of tbb 

ODUBWAS NTOT ONLY CONDESCENDING, AND VOLUNTARY, 
and OOKPIifflB, BUT IT WAS ALSO, AND OHIBFLT, ammm;. — 

Tli' purpose for which lie came into the world 

o'uM nol be properly accomplished but through death. 
It was through death that he was to destroy him that 
had the power of death, that is, the devil. Intimations 
of this had come previously into the world, in the 
lions of Beers, from the lips of prophets, in the adum- 
brations and typical shadowings of some great Offerer, 
who, in the end of the world, should appear to put away 
sin by the sacrifice of himself. All other purposes, how- 
parably noticeable, become subordinate and sub- 
sidiary to this. Hence Christ did not become partaker 
of flesh and blood that he might give to the world a 
6potless example. Although holiness, illustrious and 
unspotted, does beam out from every action of his lite, 
he was not incarnate in order that he might imp] 
upon the world the teachings of pure morality; although 
such were the spirituality of his lessons, and the power 
wijh which he taught them, thai M never man .-pake 
like this man." He did not assume our nature merely 
that he might work his healing wonders, showing, 

before the bleared vision of the world, omnipotence in 
beneficent action. All these things, however separa 



l$6 TIIK INi'AKNATI 'X OF 0H*U 

/»le, were not vast enough or grand entragh to 
have brought the Saviour from heaven. Mirnehi, pre- 
cepts, kindnesses, all these were collateral blessings — 
flowers that sprang up, as at the tread of the fabled 
goddess, wherever he appeared. Large and full in his 

through all the yea] is incarnate life, more 

more idvidly, in the are of hia Ministry, 

loomed the rose : u Thai 

■ i of niv toil : thai QBummatioi) of my 

purpose l till X 4 at; 3 have 1 

fulfilled mj eDivii 6 en< 

thai I am to pour oul upon th I until I reach that. 

is the goal of all mj - ; there I 

my tn ' Insolvent 

hue . the nefoge and 

[f ;. OU will think for a 
Oh Of thrm 

1 In p.,- er. It v. y thai a bei 

of I . i 1 'it v sustaining 

humanity under th -1 impar 

humanity a plenit iriousnesa It 

thai th >uld he voluntary, 

!" <•, COUld he im a\ aihihlria ss in i 

ing mus1 be profoundly willi 
be infinitely worthy. [1 
that the w] nld be taken on, 1 

man had sinned and the man musl die; and as 



ii n: INCARNATION "l cm; 157 

humanity, in its federal representative, the ftrel Adam, 
drawn to death, bo humanity, in its federal 
mtative, the second Adam, might have the free 
,i coming upon all men unto justification of life. 
Now, 7011 Bee how far we have got in our search for 
an accepted propitiation. We have gol a willing vic- 
tim. We have gol a willing victim in the nature that 
bad sinned ; we have gol a willing victim in the nature 
that had Binned with no obligation of hia own, and all 
whose merit, therefore, could be to spare for the redemp- 
a of the sinner. Justice herself required only toother 
exaction, and that is, that this willing victim should be 
free from taint, whether of hereditary or actual crime. 
How, the miraculous conception freed from the heredi- 
tary taint of human nature ; and, thus freed from 
hereditary defilement, lie was born, not of blood, not in 
the ordinary method of human generation, nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 
And he moved about in the midst of his fellows in an 
tosphere of impurity, yet escaping its contagion. 
hike the queenly moon shining down upon the haunts 
£gars, and dens of thieves, yet preserving its 
y and its brilliance unimpaired, he moved among 
the scum and offscouring of human society, and could 
, u Which of you convicteth me of sin V* He was 
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from .-inner.- ; evoking 
ing thunders ; charming the won- 
dering earth with spotlessnese which it had never Been 
ore; and (crown of triumph!) wringing from baffled 



158 THE INCARNATION OF 0HB1CT. 

demons the reluctant acknowledgment, u Wfl know thee 
who thou art, the Holy One of God." I lore, then. Is 
the perfected offering — a willing viotim ; a drilling 
victim in the nature that had Binned, and live i: 
taint, free from obi , man'.- eternal Saviour, GocPs 

incarnal w him in the Bhadow of his | 

Bion. I of i M'tli-omaiie came his 

arrest by the t whom he had honored. 

I' ' • in the dis- 

• tent-hall <>t' Pilate. Wearily ho treads 

thway I I \<»w, 

the Tlie multitucl I abonl 

llill Of Tl \\\r 

qnii d in agony is pure 

awaj . Hie last ministerii him. for ho 

md- 

Fal the I telov< '1. I h 

de< ; in the mind- how 1" 

affrighted ■ A through I 

rill, pi< All ie -it is 

finii '. that had climb< 

•.lv dispersed. The muiti- 
tud< . d wondering 1 I round the 

lull irated t<> t: ral homes, tall 

about : they had witnessed. The mo 

on high a- calmly b □ had not 

blood. I tut, i h ! what a i bouts Had 

tnght in the fortunes of the world. Chrisl had died, 



..ii. ; >n OF (in:: 1 59 

the just for the unjust, thai be might bring us to God. 

I it to thai despairing sinner thai man, I m 
who ha • >rd about bis Deck, and I be pistol al 

throat, wli<> ifi jusl about to escape from the terrible bar^ 
rowings of an alarmed conscience, by the dreadful alter- 
na; elf-murder. Go to him; be quick; tell him 

he need nol die, for Chrisl has died, has died to bear his 

a ;uvav. Proclaim salvation from the Lord for 
wretched dying men. Sound it out from the Bummit 

thai hill-side of Calvary, and let the sister hills echo 
it, until round the earth lias spread the rapturous 
hosanna — Salvation! Go with it to the wretched, and 
miseraMe, and poor, and blind, and naked; it is just the 
thing they need — Salvation ! King it out through every 
avenue of this vast metropolis of a world, till it rouse 
slumbering dust, and awake tlic coffined dead — 
Salvation ! Take it to your own hearts — l>e sure of 
that; and, in the fullness of your own experience, let us 
hoar your song: "There is, therefore, now no condem- 
nation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not 
after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 

How is it with you, brethren 2 How is it with you 

to-night? Have you any personal interest in the incar- 

the Saviour? Has the realizing change by 

which you are enabled to understand the purposes of 

(he Saviour'.- advent conic upon your heart ! Have the 

pur .' his advent been fulfilled in your experience I 

lie came " to destroy him that had the power of death," 

that is, the devil — to counter-work him on his own 



ICO THE INCARNATION OF CIIKIST. 

ground; is he slain in you — vanquished and overcome 
in you I He came " to deliver them who through fear 
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage;" are 
you frefed from the tyranny! Eave you entered into 
the liberty wherewith Christ I 1 to make you 

free 1 He has accomplished his purpose, -Many a oi^e 
ae blithely to the stake in the name of Jesus; 
many a one has marched steadily with ryes open to 
meet the last enemy, trusting in Jesus. No, npt pauch 
fear S q in the gloom pf that 

tierce council he Looked up and saw heaven opened, and 
the Son of Man Btanding at tb hand of the throng 

1 all that were in the c , looking stead- 

d him, a it had been the face of an 

angeL Not much th in PauL That is more 

to your i, perhaps ; for he was a blas- 

phemer l [ICC, We kn >W -a p< r r once, an injurious 

man once ; bul cy, and lie is presented 

in what I I l»e one Bublimcsl ; 

ipture : " 1 am in a hetw i\t two n frail, 

ing, sinful, mortal man : . o to -peak, in balance 

tween both worlds, having tin' choice of either, and 

HOt knowing which to take— *' I am in a strait hctwixt 

>, having a to depart and to be with Christ, 

which is far better; but t«> remain in the flesh is more 

it'ul for you." .Not much fear <>f death there, lie 

came u to deliver them who, through fear of death, 

were all their life-time A to bondage." How is it 

with yon | I ) B the Spirit take of the things of ( "lirist 



THE iw w;\ \ piOM OF OHttl i. 161 

and Bhow them to you? Does he witness to jron of 
tup own personal adoption into the famil\ of God 1 [f 
i hesitate to Bay ih.it, can yon Bay, as the old woman 
in Scotland -awl, when questioned apon the facl of her 
adoption: "lean say this: eitherlam changed or the 
world is changed." Can yon say that? Eas the 
cautery begun its work? Is the proud flesh getting 
•<ut by the live coal from the altar? Are you 
: to do evil and learning to do well — bring] 
th fruits meet for repentance? Do you hate sin with 
r-increasing hatred, and press forward to the cultiva- 
i of the things that are of good report and lovely? 
Alas ! it will be sad for yon if the incarnation of Christ 
should be to you a mystery forever, if there be no light 
ding noon his purposes, no experience of the fulfill- 
ment of them in your own hearts. Oh, seek first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness. Hallow this 
dedicatory service by the dedication of your own hearts 
to God. Let there be this sacrifice, a living sacrifice, 
holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable service. 



YT. 
ZEAL IX Till-; CAUSE OF C11K1.-I. 

« r or whether pb be 

.liiH'th us ; ho- 
; ;iml 

thai >uld not henceforth live unto 

the:; it UlltO hi ' S6k 

1 . is '. . ; . a an advantage for the a e of any 

particular can-" to know the ta his adversary 

! [e v. il ared for the onset, ar4d repel 

the attack the mor rned of danger, he 

will intrench himself in a position from which it will be 
impossible • him. Tl e A^poBtle Paul i 

this In the 

o o 

earlier &hip, the Jew and th$ ( rreei 

were the ant;, with whom he had to contend- 

Having been himself a member of the straitest sect of 

.-.- full well the antipathy with which 

thing wl simplk 

in contrast with their magnificent ritual; and he, knew 

• the hanghty scorn with which they turned nway 

i what tlu-; 1 the unworthy ace • of the 



, i,n in: « 

Ai:«l, well road as ho was in classic litera- 
ture, and acquainted with all the habits and tenden< 
of the Grecian mind, he could readily understand how 
the restraints of the Gospel would be deemed imperti- 
nent by the voluptuous Corinthian, and how the 
philosophic Athenian would brand its teachers mad. 
And yetj rejoicing in tin 4 experimental acquaintance 
with t >el, he says, for his standing-poinl of ad- 

•: "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a 
irtibling-block and to the Greeks foolishness, bul to 
:n that arc called, the power of God and the wisdom 
pf God." And iii the words of the text, addressing 
ne of those very Corinthians upon whom the Gospel 
had exerted its power, he seems to accept the stigma 
I vindicate the glorious madness: " For whether we 
be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be 
- for your cause. For the love of Christ con- 
aineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died 
for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, 
that they who live should not henceforth live unto them- 
but unto him who died for them, and rose again."' 
The great purpose of the Apostle in these words is to 
impress upon us the fact that the cause of Christ in the 
ctioned by the w< ight of so many obligations, 
with the destinies of so many millions, should 

be furthered by every legitimate means; that for it, if 

aid he employed the soberest wisdom; 

and for it, if necessary, the most impassioned zeal. lie 

vindicates the US6 of zeal in the Cause of Christ hv the 



164 ZEAL IK THE CAUSE OF CHB 

three following considerations: First, from the condi- 
tion of the world : Becondly, from the obligation's of the 
Church; and, thirdly, from the master-motiVri of the 
'- constraining love. To illu aud enforce 

this .anient, to the 

object which has call ther, will be ottr busi- 

• a few brief moments to-night. 
I. The A :' zeal in 

NDIllo.N 

. d. The A :■• si :' the world as in a 

"ritual death* He argues the universality of 

this spiritual death fro -ality of the ato 

at of Chi ist "For tl ( ' t constraineth 

tor all, then 
were all (had M — dead in sin, with i s i ry \ ice luxuriant 

in law, judicially 
in ;' p; nay, d alr< ^<}y^ 

ath. We i re* 

mind 3 ' e world's estimi 

of its own c It i 1 and, therefore, 

■ it 
a delusi art, hi thai delusion it fa elf 

enthroned and Btately, like or lunati 

imaj r the inflictions of 

lien tho 
" We thns judg 
is in as any 
any prophetical foresight, hy which onr judgment 
made more ite than the judgmenl of others; hut 



L IN Tfl L65 

the Holy Spirit has c >me down, has wrought upon us — 
'wn as the plague of our own hearts and from 
ath within wc ran the better argue the death 
which ( round. And thai this La the actual con- 

dition of the world. Scripture and experience combine 
The Bible, with comprehensive impartial 
all "under sin ;" represents mankind at 
of eyil-doera — "children that are corrupters ;" — sheep 
that have wandered away from the Shepherd and Bishop 
of their Bonis. In the adjudication of Scripture then 
no exemption from this common character of evil, and 
from this common exposure to danger. The man of 
merciful charities, and the woman of abandoned life — 
proudest peer, and the vilest serf in his barony — the 
nigral i-t observer of the decalogue, and the man-layer, 
lvd with blood, all are comprehended in the broad and 
large denunciation: " Ye were by nature children of 
wrath, even as others." And out in the broad world, 
wherever the observant eye travels, you have abundant 
firmatiuii of the testimony of Scripture. You have 
it in your own history. The transgressions and sins 
which constitute this moral death abound in our age no 
less than in any former age of mankind. There are 
thousands around you who revel in undisguised corrup- 
ts There are thousands more externally reputable 
who have only a name to live. Y<m have this confirm- 
in in the - of the ( 'ontinent— afely bound 
by the superstition of i nbsiding infc 

onary skepticism. You have this confirmation 



106 zlal in the cause of ciieist. 

farther away in the countries which own Mohammedan 
rule, and cherish die Mohammedan's dream — Where \<>u 
have unbridled lust, and a tiger's thirst for bltibd. Y<»u 
have this confirmation in the far-off n erf heathen- 

ism proper, where the nature, had in itself, is made a 
thousand-fold worse bj its religion — where the man is 
the prey of every error, and the heart ee bfevery 

cruelty — where men live in d and where men 

die iu despair. Travel where you will, visit the most 
distant regi ander the Bhadow of the 

ilization — j the depths of tJ 

primeval G ito whose original dark: ft might 

have imagined the would hardly penetrate, and 

liformly the D ev( rywl 

V leed, in all ; now in the rate 

and fading beauty which it wears ju r the spirit 

I from tl - the wmi-ii- 

be bou] has brol I thrown aw 

n<>w, when th. !• it a hue of the sublii 

and it i d amid I i burial ; and how] when 

ruption has begun its work, and its ill odor ail" 
the neighborhood, and Bpreads the pestilence- 1 v<>u 
it in all its varieties, luit uniformly death is there, We 

ther from cur melancholy pilgrimage no vestige of 
spiritual life, Afourn< >out th< , and t! 

arc mourners over many tomb . 

Although, as we have observed jusl notf, a thorough 
and realizing estimate of the world's condition coin,. 
only when the judgment is enlightened from on high, 



El \i. in i B 01 0UB1 r. I '17 

e men of the world, the minds thai have in all 
wered above their fellows, have fell an unsatisf 
for which they could hardly account ; they ha 
had a vague and morbid consciousness thai all was uot 
hi somehow, cither with themselves or with their 
: they have mel with disturbing forces, Bigns of 
irregularity, tokens of misery and of sin thai ha 
ruff mcwhat, the philosophic evenness of their 

minds. Each in his own way, and from his own Btand- 
guessed at the solution of the problem, and 
has hern ready with a suggested remedy. The peoples 
arc imbruted ; educate them. The nations arc bar- 
barous; civilize them. Men grovel in sensual pleasure; 
cultivate the aesthetic faculty; open up to them galleries 
of pictures; bring them under the humanizing influ- 
ences of art. Men groan in bondage; emancipate them, 
d bid them be free ! Such are some of the tumul- 
- that have arisen from earnest but blind 
philanthropists, who have ignored the spiritual part of 
man'.- nature, and forgotten altogether the Godward 
relations of his soul. All these, as might lane been 
expected, valuable enough as auxiliaries, worth some- 
thi note the growth and comfort of a man when 

once imparted, fail, absolutely fail to 
quicken the unconscious dead. In all cases the bed has 
been shorter than that a man could lie on it, and the 
ering uarrower than that he could wrap himself in 
it. The inbred death lay too deep for Mich superficial 
alchemy; corpses cannot by any possibility animate 



1GS zi:al in tiii: OMJtt 01 OHBIOT. 

corpses; and the compassionate bystander from other 
world-, siekened with th< y inventions, might be 

istrained to cry, u Amid all this tumult of the human, 
O- for something Divine!" And the Divine is given — 
Christ ha- died for all men. There is hope for the 
world's Ufa ] death whereby we live; this is a 

remedy commensurate wil ing need, and intended 

enl that need* 

creed ii a perpetual 
ten ' war — Ohrisi hath 

1 for him. That fi vo, into 

whose aoul the in ■ d, valued by 1 

about on a par . or 

with the soil he dig — CI ; : died for him. That 

dark blaspl . who li familiar crime, whose 

expatriation would 

be li:ii!' ! around him a.- a boon of 

<-hi< alue— Christ h; for him. lUad dark 

;md 

who, in the \a' | |, V Buffering, 

wastes himself wil ant penance welUiigh to tin 1 

! for him. Oh, teB theafe tidii 

to the wori Pro] thifl name 

in the moti I the I Spirit who 

always wail . will send the q 1 

ar winds of hes II leap into 

life n> I 

No* ' two points. Think, in the first pi 

be condition of the world a condition 



LL IN Tii 169 

►thing but death can illustrate it a condition 

■'., | . \ [rich Miiiics the body 

with iiniiii' cruelties, which dwarfs the mind with 

it into unholy passion, which 
bani oul and mind within a man in hop< ! 

jcmenl from happiness and God ; and then think 

the death of Christ, providing for the furthest need, 

the utmosl exile, pouring its abundant life 

upon the sepulchred nations, diifusing light, liberty, 

hope, comfort, heaven : and] appeal to your enlightened 

judgment whether you arc not bound, those of you who 

'.eve in Jesus, to labor for the world's conversion 

with in; Bnergy and zeal. Oh, if temporal miseries 

it sympathy, and prompt to help; if the anxie 

a neighborhood gather around a drowning child, or are 

fastened upon the rafters of a burning house, where, 

3 and imploring, stands a single man, already 

1 by the flame, how much of sympathy, of effort, 

of liberality, of zeal, of prayer, arc due to a world lying 

in the wicked one, and panting after the second death ! 

Sou will agree with me, that there is more than 

for the poet's words : 

" On such a theme, 
'Tis impious to be calm l w 

And you will rejoice — will you not? — to lake your 
itd, to-night by the Apostle's side, and to cry, when 
men deem your zeal impertinence and yonr 

8 



170 ZEAL IN TDE CACSE OF CHRIST. 

fanaticism, "If we be b< 9, it is to God: 

and if we be sober, it ifl for your can-. 

II. The Apostle arj asity for zeal in the 

cause of Christ, secondly, from thb obligations Of the 
chubch, in that lie died for all, that they should live — 

:ld not henceforth live unto themselves, but for him 

who died for them and rose again. The Apostle's 

. anient i- this — none of us ha- lite in himself; it' we 

at all, we live by impart : we live because 

OUT spirit- from <>n high. 
Then it is nol our own ; i; belongs to Him who has pur- 

"••1, and we are bound 

t<> employ il in lory. This also 

is the d judgment We 

judge tlii- as well i ac lordance 

Time would fail us 

toi in which devotion — 

the i 'T Qod, 

made mat: demand I 

will just men: I hat may serve as an 

ilb: ; U : " 1 >u then fore, brethren, 

by ' ( 1, that ; ■ your bodi 

lb. . '1 the depth of 

ration that dumbers in I 

:" to 1 ately and u gly 

devoted to G and 

the Life-bl 1 Btreamed forth in votive offering! N 

better than that : >■ >uld 'ivam 

out bul ut the living sacrifice may rpetual 



171 

holocaust, repeated daily for a lifetime- o living sacri- 
e, holy and acceptable unto God, which la your 

ice. From the doctrine of this pi 
(1 of numberless others kindred to ii, il would ap] 

nerate heart is qo< at liberty to live for 

nor to aim supremely a1 its own gratification ; it 

[ve for him who has "died for it, and who 

jain." Fou cannot fail, I think, to perceive that 

compliance with this exhortation is utterly antagonistic 

to the ordinary procedure of mankind. 

In an age of organization against idolatry, there is 
• proud, rampant idolatry which retains its ascm 
acy amongst us. Selfishness is the most patronized 
idolatry in the world. It is the irrcat imai^e whose 
brightness is exceeding terrible, and before which all 
a bow; it is a throne, and an empire, and the like- 
;' a kingly crown ; it equips armies and mans 
armaments to gratify its lust of power. Fastnes 
ha\ < explored and caverns ransacked to appe: 

or gold. It presides over the councils of 
kings ami over the diplomacy of cabinets; for it the 
rehantman grindeth down his manhood, for it the 
treader-under-fool of nations marcheth in his might and 
in hie Bhame; its votaries are of all handicrafts — of the 
learned professions, and of every walk in lite. It hath 
1 on to the judgment* . ad per- 

ted justice there. The COwled monk hath hidden it 

beneath hi- and it hath become for him an engine 

of oppression, and it hat 1 tonally robed itself in 



172 ZKAL IN THI 0AU8I 01 CHRIST. 

holy vestments, and entered the priest's office for a 
morsel of bread. No --race nor virtue of humanitj 
free from its dilation. It lias breathed, and 

riotism has dej ted into partisanship; it baa 

breathed, and friendship has I ndated for policy; 

it has breathed, and charity has been blemished by 
atation ; it has breathed, and , i lias bean 

despotism — its tor- 
r man hath trodden, and it is the nndis- 
.1 ana] rid. Now it is against * 

prin in human , throned within in all, 

;round, t 

1 G I "lately 

power, and 

1 laults it in all it- strongholds with \ of 

sublime morality. To the of avarice 

a]' bold . a * bile I er clut< Id, and 

.-;i\ 1 him that asketh i I from him 

that would borrow e turn nol then away. w To 

the selfishness of anger it addri n when 

the brow of the an] ry : rt Le1 not 

• down upon thy wrath;" k * I>! »88 them that 

curse you, pray for them that despitefully oseyoa and 

':." T i I .* pride, even in its 

han : " In holier ]>reiei'- 

I with humility, let eaeli 

em anol /' To the selfish] • 

of indii . " Look not on 

thine own things, but likewise upon the things of 



others;" and to tlio selfishness of souLa iminal 

the great salvation, 

1 hat urn it be :i callou ■ heart thai can 
nd, " Ye know th< >f our Lord J< 

Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sine he 
became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be 
made rich." Oh, how Bmall, alongside of augusl and 
heavenlj p] like these, are the sublimes) maxims 

any merely ethical morality ! 
I: is said that, once, during the performance i 
ledy in the Roman theatre, one of the actors gave 
utterance to the sentiment, "I am a man; nothi 
therefore, that is human, can be foreigp to me, 53 and the 
audience were so struck by the disinterestedness, or so 
charmed by the novelty, that they greeted it with thun- 
applause. How much greater wealth of kindly 
wisdom and prompting to unselfish action lies hidden 
in the Gospel of Christ, shrined there as every-day 
ut: passed by the most of us very slightingly 

by I Oh! let there he anything like the genial prac- 
this divine morality, and the world would soon 
aspect of desolation and of blood; oppression and 
over-reaching, and fraud and cruelty, would be frowned 
• of the societi of men, and this earth would 

an ample and a peopled paradise. By 
bave thus endeavored to describe ' . 
.in that grasping, monopolizing spirit which 
all and rives nothing: heedful enough* own for- 

tin of the concerns and into r 



1 71 ZBAL IX THK CAUSE OF CHKI8R 

This is the principle in our nature which Christianity 
opposes, and with which it c< ly wages war. J >ut 

there is a sort of Belfishness which, for the Bake o£ dis* 
tine b may call e e, which is instinctive, and 

therefore innocent — that merciful provision by which 
we arc prompted to the care of our own lives and to the 
avoidance of everything thai would disquiet or abridge 
them. This p: in our nature ( Jhristianity cm 

: to this principle Christianity addre self; 

d, married in indie 
onion, man's chiefest duty and man's highest pleasure 
Godliness is ] . be pro* 

the life tli. V. dark, nior- 

, uu]i;t] ; i w it:i it ( ( fodlineSQ hath 

the thai 

lu y commandments 

upon you 

m Of n \ in heart, and 

ye shall find n v my j 1 asy 

v burd< ht" M In thj ce then 

fullness of joy \ al thy ri| are pleasures 

J- in man's physical ori 
■ . and its adaptation to th rial world around 

him, when body and mind arc alike in health, wfi i 
neither eat, nor drink, nor talk, uor walk, nor &1* p, nor 
Jj nor p :iy d' the commonesl actions of Life, 

without ttion of • is in the spiritual 

life : there is pleasure in . try motion. There is 

pleasure even in the sting ol penitenc . 



CHRIST. 17 



I I 



•• \ rlcf and plea log imai t, 

melting of .1 broken heart." 

re is pleasure in the performance of dutyj there is 
v in the enjoyment of privilege ; there Is pleasure 
in the overcoming of temptations, a grand thrill of 
happim e trampled under fool a vanquished Lust 

'a::; desire ; there is pleasure in the exercise of bene- 
volence; tlierc is pleasure in the importunity of prayer, 
Bei is that the Apostle seeks to rivet the sense of 

al obligation by the remembrance of personal 
efit. " We thus judge, that lie died for all, that 
v which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
, but unto him who" — owns them? No. Claims 
No. Will judge them? No; but — "to him 
who died for them and rose again.' 3 Gratitude is to be 
■ prompter to our devotion. Those who live to 
-e who live by Christ, will not tamely see his 
ken, his Sabbaths desecrated, his name blas- 
emed, the blood of the covenant wherewith he was 
accounted an unholy thing. Brethren, i 
that happy family? Have you obtained life 
'i the dead through his name? Then you are hound 
to Bpend it for his honor, and, watching with godly 
jtealousy for every possible opportunity of doing good, 
J and be spent for them who have not yel your 
Master known. I call on yon to answer this invocation ; 
it belongs to you. There is no neutrality, believe me, 
in this war — and if there be some of you that would 
like to be dastardly and half-hearted trimmers, you will 



17t> ZEAL IN THK CAUSE 01 OHSIST. 

find by and by that you have got the hottest place in 

the battle, exposed to the cross-fire from the artillery of 

both parties. I call on you decisively to-nighl Vb 

jwer this invocation. Call up before your minds the 

benefits y ( .u have individually received; think of the 

blessings which the death of Christ has procured lor 

— the removal of the blighting curse which Bha- 

dowed all your life, the present sense of pardon, 

er self and over sin, light in the day of your 

ighl of your travail ; the 

:hing Spirit to lead you into still loftier knoi 

and th< Bpirit to impress upon you the 

iiii;. the heavenly; thai Divine fellowship which 

. and thai majestic hope which 

makes the future Far. Think of the ben< 

erred upon 
In tl. ! valley, the UueN 

• amid I of Jordan, a 

upon the hithc lie #el- 

I his !•' auty, and " a house not made 

with hi ternal in the ' And then, as the 

sum of favor us 1 gratitude and the 

ill, and the frame qun 
with tl remember that 

world 1; one, that there are 

multitudes, t: , in your own 

city, at your own doors, for whom the up died, 

who never heard hii name; thai there are multitudes 
for whom he 1 olished death who have never fell 



OF CHI l.» 

hisi ti<>n\ power. Lot your tears flow; better, 

a tear for ( lod's Bake and the world's Bake 

•i the hard heartcdncss and darkness of Bin. Lift np 

ir voice in the midst of I hem ; lift it up, be nol 

Say unto the cities of Judah, "Behold your 

[." Men will call you mad, but yon can give them 

Apostle's answer, k * If we be beside ourselves, il 

|o God : if we be Bober, it is for your cause.' 3 

III. The Apostle argues the necessity of zeal in tlie 

se of Christ, in the third place, from the master 

motive of the Saviour's constraining love. "The 

love of Christ constraineth us" — forces us along, car- 

- us away as with the impetuosity of a torrent, or 

rather as when cool heavens and favoring air speed the 

jsel steadily to the haven. Love is at once man's 

bI powerful motive and his highest inspiration, both 

in the life that now is and that which is to come. From 

love to Christ spring the most devoted obedience, the 

most untiring efforts in his service. There are other 

Bprings of action, I know, by which men are influenced 

to a profession of religion. Interest can occasionally 

affect godliness from sordid aims, and behave itself 

decorously amid the respectabilities of the temple-going 

and alms-giving religion; but it will give its arm to 

. man that goes down to the house of Rimmon ; and 

if there is a decree that at the sound of all kinds of 

music they arc to fall down before another image which 

in the plains of Dura, they will be the 

i •{' the knee. Men Bometimos 



17S ZEAL IN THE CAUSE OF CHRIST. 

practise obedience under the influence of fear, A sud- 
den visitation, a prevailing epidemic, an alarming api 

.J, will strike into momentary concern; but when 

indignj • and the craven soul lias 

recovered 6 3 paroxysms of terror, there will often 

be a relapse into more than the former atrocities of evil. 

(motions of duty may and sometimes will induce a 
man, like an h< uesl Phai the olden time, to ob- 

Berve rigidly the enactments of the law; but there will 
be i no holy passion in his 

d; hut let the love of God be Bhed abroad in 
heart by the 1 1 en unto him, let there be 

t there be righ1 of the 

I . and there will be 

ted, and . Zeal 

-u and a principle, 

ardor, and filling the 
whole boo! with tl jorbing 

This is the >;n whose natural and in. 

low tin- .'. toned zeal. 

ooooBtraining 

. 
or to our love t.» him, which I baa 

enkindled in the bouL I do nol think we can go far 
take b tb meanings, inasmuch as no prin- 
• '• m is i I a- we need the p 

but* combination of motive, that we may be seal- 

ted always in I . Ve, then, if 

there are any of you bere ^^ L« > need rousing to i 



L IN THE Ci IT'- 1 

in tli. 1 Bervice of Christ, think of hie love to von ; bow 
rich iis manifestations, and how unfeigned: how all 
otlirr love of which it is possible for you to conceive 
inks in the comparison ! There have been develop- 
Qts in the histories of year.- of self-sacrificing affec- 
tion, which has clung to the loved object amid hazard 
and suffering, and which lias horn ready even to offer 
up life in its behalf. Orestes and Pylades, Damon and 
Pythias, .David and Jonathan, what lovely episodes 
their histories give us amid a history of selfishness and 
gin ! Men have canonized them, partly because such 
instances are rare, and partly because they are like a 
dim hope of redemption looming from the ruins of the 
fall. We have it on inspired authority, indeed, " Greater 
love hath no man than this" — this is the highest point 
which man can compass, this is the culminating point 
of that affection which man can by possibility attain, 
the apex of his loftiest pyramid goes no higher than 
this — " greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friend ; but God commendeth 
his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners 
Christ died for us." A brother has sometimes made 
n« 'table efforts to retrieve a brother's fortunes, or to 
blanch his sullied honor; but there is a Friend that 
iketh closer than a brother. A father has bared his 
ield hi- offspring from danger, and a mother 
would gladly die for the offspring of her womb ; but a, 
fathers affection may fail in its strength, and yet more 
rarely a mother's in its tendern< 



ISO zi:al IN Tin: QAU8K OF OHB 

M I saw . . bowed 

- 
Time wrote in i r brow, 

ir. 

4> Whit \v.i< it thai like 

< >\ rhei i in, 

A I, 

I ! 

14 WL.tt wai 
B] 

M V. 

child, that 
should doI bai e con on the bos of her womb I 

Yi . ill I not forget thee." () 

,! ] : ■, -;li, w bo can i 1 " Serein ifl 

1,.\. . thai we loved God, but that he loved us Bud 

- .!i to be ■ propitial ■ cur BU Think 

of that love- love which d< could not al>att — 

raid nol abate —which tre&ch- 

: could not d© - 

i(» ful and bating one 

• n, and Buffered want, and 

embraced death, and Bhranh not even from the loath- 

and from the humiliation of burial ; and then, 



ZEAL IN Till! <\IM OF CIIH 181 

with brimming eye, and heart that is full, and wonder 
" W'hv Bach love to met" yon will indeed be angra 
ful if you are not Btirred by it to an energy of consecra- 
tion ami endeavor, which may well seem intemperate 
■eal to the cool reckoners with worldly wisdom. Then 
take the other side of the argument; take i! as refer- 
ring to your love to Christ, which the of his Love 

lias enkindled in the soul. The deepest affection in the 
believing heart will always be the love of Jesus. The 

love of home, the love of friends, the love of letters, 
the love of rest, the love of travel, and all else, arc 
contracted by the side of this master-passion. "A little 
deeper/ 3 Baid one of the veterans of the first Napoleon's 
old guard, when they were probing in his bosom for a 
bullet that had mortally wounded him, and he thought 
they were getting somewhere in the region of the heart 
— "a little deeper and you will find the Emperor." 

graven on the Christian's heart deeper than all other 
love of home or friends, with an ineffaceable impression 
that nothing can erase, you find the loved name of Jesus. 
Oh ! let this affection impel us, and who shall measure 
our diligence or repress our zeal? Love is not bound 
by rule; there is no law that can bind it; it is never 

low the precept, it is always up to the precept, but 
it always has a margin of its own. It does not calcu- 
late, with mathematical exactitude, with how little of 

obedience it can escape penalty and secure recompense; 

like Its Master it gives in princely style ; it is exuberant 
in its manifestations; there is always enough, and to 



l v 2 ZEAL IN THE CAUSE OF CUEIST. 

spare. And if meaner motive can prompt to heroic 
action — if from pure love of Bcience astronomers van 
crofifl ocean familiarly, and dare encounter dange 
that they may watch in distant climea the transit of a 
planet i <f the sun — and if botanists can 

travel into inhospitable climes and sojourn among in- 
hospitable i gather specimens of their Lr<>r- 
geous flora — and if, with no motive but lo country, 
and ad an undying 
name, a Willoughby c ice himself to blow up 
a magazine, and a £ the Cashmere < kite 
at Delhi, e incomparably 

. with V our lips, with 

going down 

m our d ted immortality, 

Lot the 
r superior to such 
mtumely. 1 1- &v< q applaud- our enthusiasm, and 
we van vindica die A words: "If we be 

besi 
foi 



VII. 

TI1K C1IKIST1A.YS INHERITANCE. 

"Whom have I in heaven but thee? ami there is none upon earth that 
I d< - le thee. My flesh and my heart faileth : but (*od is the 

gth of my heart, and my portion forever/' — Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26. 

M My flesh and my heart faileth." "Who docs not 
understand that? It is the common lot — the uniform 
and continual experience of the race. "The voice said, 
Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh 
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of 
the field ; the grass withered], the flower fadeth, because 
the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it ; surely the peo- 
ple is grass/' This announcement of mortality, coming 
thus solemnly in a voice from heaven, finds its echo in 
experience of mortals themselves; for however they 
may attempt to disguise it — with whatever study, per- 
sew and hypocrisy they may conceal their feel- 

ings — it is an undeniable and startling truth that theliv- 

I know that they musl die. Death, my brethren, is a 
theme of mighty import. Eloquence has been exhausted 
upon the wide-spread magnitude of its ition ; there 

is not a place where human beings congregate which 
dues not tell them that they are mortal. Is it a family { 



1^4 the christian's inheritance. 

Death enters and makes household memories painful, 
and turns home into the dwelling of the stranger. La it 
a market-place 1 It is a busy, stirring throng which 
tills it as ever, bnt they are new faces that meet the i 
new voices which fall upon the ear. Is it a coagrega- 

I Our lathers, where are they i The prophets, do 

they live forever! J- it a world! Every thirty years 
its mighty heart is changed in continual supercession ; 

one I Upon the heels of another, and the 

D which we tread. 

And yet, i" say, there is an almost universal 

listl upon the subject, and the saying of the poet 

well-nigh to he verified, that 

■• a |] in. ii thiol 

I. man of the world ::«»t lie .-rein as 

should live forever as it' he thought 

□ the paltry, perishable matters with which he 

happens to be surrounded I Circumstances may inde< 1 

nOW and then OCCUr in Ids history which may compel a 

tra: jidtmn - itj : his rye may perhaps 

• upon the Bible, <»r a funeral procession may er 

his path a- he walks the streets of the city, or a passing 
hell, with its slow and Bolemn tolling, may break Mid- 
denly upon d the though! comes on Ins mind 

for a moment that there may possibly he such a thing 

BS death. But it was hut for a moment; it \ ray 

thought <'f eternity — one whose adv. ,l once 

forbidd i unwelcome intruder; he was ruffled fipr 



l 16 
aw bile taken aback for an instant but time 

.•inn ai .and b< come as still, and as >luml>eriii"\ 

before. Brethren, we might rebuke 
that insensibility from the records of ancient history. 
It is recorded of Alexander, the conqueror of one world, 
that he wept l there was no other world to con- 

quer. Ala>! men now-a-days have sadly degenerated; 

y have no such ambition, they mourn over no such 
of grief. However, there is, brethren, whether 
men reck of it or not, there is another world to conquer. 
The battle is not with the confused noise of war, or gar- 
ments rolled in blood; the enemies are not flesh and 
blood, but principalities and powers, and the rulers of 
the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in 

gh places. The prize is not an earthly crown, hut a 
kingdom of whose brilliancy the Macedonian never 
knew. Yet many never enter this battle-field, and 
many who do, after a few brief and ineffectual struggles, 

>W tired, and ingloriously lay down their arms. Bre- 
thren, we are anxious that you should not he thus 

vardly in the day of battle ; we would have you quit 
yourselves like men and he strong; and we know of 
nothing that is better calculated to arouse your forti- 
tude and bring into play that high and fearless heroism 
which we are exhorted by the Apostle to add to our 
faith, than the consolation of the words of the b 

iging b< fore as, as they do, the Christian's personal 
inheritance, and hope, and future prospects: "Whom 

have I in heaven hut thee? and there is none upon 



I s ') TBI LilKl.<iIAN\< I Nil hill IAN 

earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart 
faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my 
portion forever." 

We need no1 spend time in endeavoring to proi 

i, that it is one chara f the wicked that 

-1 ifi not in all his th< ." 1 le mav n<>; 

far ; r mtelli 

but could ; ,1 would discover it to 

indifference, A hint 
whi I A\ ii never obtrudes itself 

iat" hi - men1 <>r plea- 

oed, t.» 

y the i rid. Nay, 

presum] ad Bagranl 

Btil] wn deitj , he pi • to 

liin. rship at 

1 1 -•.'. } then, to be w on bac 

which ei 
< r to h hich became to I 

I w ondetr. Hie law 

: 'i bad been broken, it 

quirem tly violated, and wherever man went 

i: proscribed him a fa and a rebel. Moreover, it 

ii the b the law rather to irritate than to heal 

— rath. than tenderness toward 

er in the bread of the criminal. EZe&ce yon 

the Burner's mind in his charac 

i Qod of judgment; you may manifest to the sinner 



ra i.Mii 1:1 1 a-. i l 

the frowns of his angry countenance; yon may collect 

the arguments of terror which language can gather* 

and yon may arm these arguments of terror with addi- 

al energj by descanting on the thunder of his 

jm.w u n;a\ set before him the horrible Bpe< 

of his own impending death, and the unknown horn 
of thai eternity which is on the other side; you may 

[uiel him with all I ppliancee (and it is quite 

should be disquieted); you may induce a 
partial reformation of life and character (and it is nee 
aary that he should reform) ; you may set him trembling 
at the power of the lawgiver (and a thousand times 
rather let him tremble than sleep); but where, in the 
midst of all this, is there obedience to the first and great 

runandment i Is the love of God shed abroad in his 
heart I Has it dawned upon the darkness of his mind I 
lias it.- gentle influence acted like a salutary and com- 
posing charm over his alarmed breast? Xo ; all your 
appliances have failed, there has been no conviction im- 
planted except the conviction of fear. The thunders of 
executive justice and the power of judicial vengeance 
have failed to impress his heart ; there it is, like a fortress, 
firm, impregnable, granite-like on its adamantine rook ; 

I that which was intended to draw the soul into do 

mmunion to God, has only driven him to a more hope- 
less distance from God. How, then, was this stray 
spirit to be won back to Godl Oh, brethren, " what 

the law could not do, in that it was weak through the 
flesh, God .-ending his own Son in the likeness of .-iniul 



188 IBM OHUfi HAN'S INHKKI'lAN 

ah* — mark the words; not in the reality of sinful, 

but in the UJcm sinful, though in reality ofhun 

■ — M in the likei sinful flesh, and for sin, condemi 

in the flesh." By the m\ - of the 

M '_:.•'. I I difficulties \v< i ved. The dimity 

■ 

tnained unsullied, while the milder 
made to fall upon it ; and God 

thrin that in J( sua Urt all-corn- 

prisi ce an 

I ."(1 and man. The 

inenl tl. oncilia- 

i ! : thd holy 

while •■■ 
i, unredeem thy companion 

. 

fng along 
in the enterpri 

ini- 
k of our present meditation, I 

the ivc<>nij :i!. " Whom ha\ I 

in h i irth that 

I desi 
We And three thoughts, my dear brethren, which 
I forcibl pon our mil 

I. In tfa imii i:it- 

i i. Tht ing 

for which man is m< >un table than for 1 

rion of mind— few hii improi and abuse of 



'liii -in 1:1 i \.\ 

those powers with which the mind is gifted. It 
beneficent gift from a beneficent Being, but, then, bj 

partaking of tin' nature of the immortal, it entails upon 
him the responsibilities i f an immortal also. Few are 
the subjects which it cannot penetrate; difficulties but 
urge it to a course of Loftier efforts, and, like the 
avalanche of snow, it gains additional momentum from 
the obstacles that threaten to impede it. Our position 
is this: Mind never finds its level, never finds its : 
until it is fixed upon the things above; active, inquiring, 
speculative, impassioned ; like the eagle towering from 
his eyrie on the cliff, its course is right upward to the 
sun, and in the beams of uncreated light alone it finds 
its home, and its kindred, and its joy. The great pur- 
pose of man in the present world is to pass from a 
passive to an active state of "being. And it is, in fact, 
this transition, effected by the agency of the Holy 
Spirit, which is that regeneration of which Scripture 
speaks. By nature, man is under the dominion of 
habit ; the Spirit brings him under the dominion of 
principle. By nature, a man exercises himself in all his 
doing without reference to God ; in grace, the Spirit 
dwells in the heart as the sanctifier and the guide. By 
nature, a man, under temporary impulses of master- 
passioi put forth energies which awe a world, 

bur they are of the earth, earthy; but the Spirit. BO t<> 

ak, implants heavenly ideas in his mind, and he [ 
power and capacity to think of GocL By nature, the 

man cleaves to the dust, is conversant only with what ii 



100 THE CHRISTIAN'S INHERITANCE. 

contemptible and low, and at last sinks into perditi 
in grace he draws himself up to his full stature. 
his native royalty, and, as a heaven-born and heav< 
ling subject, claims kindred with the King of the 
:. In fine, by nature the man walks in dark- 
of the night are around him, and he 
knoweth not whither he goeth; in grace, the morning 
Rightfully on t] f Ike traveller, 

and fa '1 and I by the light of 

day. 

point here which, if you are all 

Like-minded with myself, you will hail with no common 

ition. I am loth to ] art with those 1 loi e ; I 

loth to regard them . because they 

o to live on the 

oth< . I , • n't pay death the compli- 

Jling him lie I ided the < Ihurch. He 

•' the living 

( ,. ,1 : 

-• ]' 

but it ' army ; I body growing up 

into Christ— its lr The head and the -upper 

members in heai en, the lower c on earth ; but 

it ifl but l :.»] at | 

dial ball 1 e drawn int.. the 

up] • . and stand out to tin of the 

admiring Universe in the lull .Mature oft! Ct man. 

I bail with joy, therefore, anything that has a tendency 



Tin: 00*161 i.\.\\s imij ui i \.\< i . I 91 

to bring me even in thought near to the loved and gone 

►re. I welcome as the visit of a ministering angel 

the of kindness which brings me tidings from the 

r bere my friends are reposing, 
thought, then, thai gives me such satisfaction, Is 
this, that Dow, even now, clogged as we are by the 
frailty and weakness of the body, we and those departed 
ones who have died in the faith arc walking in the 
same light. We are told that the Lord is tin; lighl of 
his people tn heaven; we know that the Lord is the 
Ugh! vl his people on earth. We are told that the 
f the Lord is the sole illumination of the heavenly 
Jerusalem ; we know that the glory of the Lord illu- 
minates the earthly Zion ; the lamp of light above, the 
til of light beneath — the same light, for they are both 
!. There is a beauty in this conception — don't you 
it? — because it gives us the notion of alliance; it 
the idea of this earth of ours as east off from 
d's fatherhood, a shrouded and forgotten thing. It 
takes hold of it in its degradation, and fastens round it 
one end of the chain, the other end of which is bound 
to the throne of the Everlasting himself. And, oh! is 
it not a beautiful thought, ay, while here to-night in the 
sanctuary we are opening our Bibles, and imploring 
irit of God to shine down upon the truth, faith 
through the clouds — and thev are very thin ones — 
and Be< ' bright spirits above, engaged in the 

Deployment, di Biring to look into the same thii 
We are one with them after all. The light may fall, 



192 tiik christian's inukkitance. 

the light does full, with a more gushing llood-tide upon 
their eyes, but it is the same light. There they are, 
with the Great Teacher in the mid6t of them, poring 
everlastingly upon the tale of pleading love. Buch 
students Bad inch a teacher, who would not join ; and, 
ai the light of the intellect, adopt at once and forever 

: " Whom have 1 in heaven but 

I and tin r >ne apon the earth that 1 desire 

-Me thee. 93 

11. And tl. i Q9 the CraanAv'fl i.mmkit- 

." bis intellect, but m on 

Win-never human nature 

reflects '. it mu m bim a 

1 dread. We think of him aa b being of 
uni 

rant, .1 toward us— and 

up] to be the 
fane in which the manner 

., the vast extent of his 
en ation, the * ge policy of hii rnment, 

:n which hi , the Cloudfl and dai-k- 

al arc round about bis footstool, the inscrutable 
majesty which surrounds bis throne— all these things 

have a tn. J with alarm, 10 that 

may say with Job, u When I COD . I | B 'raid of 

him. M The might bave been different in the 

primeval paradise, when the Lord walked in the garden 
in the coo] of day; but ever since I withdrawn 

Jlil! I iew him with <iis- 



Tin: OHBIE man'- imm 1:11 \\ I 93 

may; and the Athenian* only spoke the language of 

when they reared their altar M to the 

qowd ( k)d." 

i if we appeal to nature, i<» the external world, to 

remove thia distrustfolness of God, we shall find our- 

bul little benefited. This, you know, is one of the 

• prescriptions of the Theophilosophers and 

I.atitudinarians of the present day. " Go to natmv," 

y Bay ; " look at the external world ; see everything 

and you; look there, and see written with pleasing 

chaj that one great lesson of the universe, that 

n e." Well, I will go to the external world, if 

- to be the theme. I look around me, and I dift- 

oever many things upon which the eye can gaze, to 

which the car can listen, upon which the heart can 

dwell, which rejoices me when I think that the God 

• made them all is surely a God of love. There are 

'ling landscapes, and beautiful enamelled earth, 

and soft music of the summer's breeze, and the loud 

laugh of the bounding stream, and the innocence of 

ic enjoyments and ennobling principles, and the 

peace and love and animation which cluster around the 

bearth-stone of many a cottage home. Oh, it i> a 

delightful thought that the God who made all th 

things, is Burely a God of love ! Ah, but then there are 

sweeping floods, and the resistless tempests, and the 

mighty thunder, and the jealousies and heart-burnings 

• eiety, and the wholesale slaughter.- of 

jive war, and the wrath of the devouring pesti- 

9 



194: THE CHRISTIAN'S INL1FKITANCK. 

lence, and, to crown all, death, grim and ghastly death, 
crushing the gi as the moth is crashed. What 

am I to believe, but that the God of the universe is a 
mighty judge I Nature can tell me nothing then. She 
just tosses nay poor mind about in the soiost distressing 
alternations, first of confidence, and then of dread. 
And yet often when the mild voice of Christianity — 
rather of natural religion — assures me that God is love, 
I am not disposed to believe it. But then tin 

this. This is not, like the other, conjured uj> 
cut of the land ol . the mere result of man's 

intellect or of specul j it has its base 

his own nature* The tact 

f mind I a law of right and wrong, and 

M ith it that law has heen 

habitually cL There is 8 tless apprehension 

the 1 forel oding of 

guilt and judj i a man cannot believe that 

d is love, while li ience tells him that that 

G L is 1 . ! oomfarting 

voice of r d may testify to the 

benevotaac I . ; hut so long as there 

I ing within — BO long as t! 

d controversy between bis Maker and himself, 

all i are banished from his mind, and, 

like Adam of old, in the Very BlyneSfl of In'., crime, be 

ild hide himself from hi.- Maker anion-- the tree.- of 

garden* 

And here it i- that Christianity comes to our assist- 



L9fi 

:nuv, just as -he always dms when we 1 1 1 < » - 1 need her, 

aii'l one i force of those deep and thrilling 

id the Lamb of ( lod, that takel h a^ ay 
the sins of the florid." Thia told of a Saviour, and a 
Saviour who ha- borne his cross and carried hia sorrow, 
the man looks abonl him for the unwonted spectacle, 
pots off hia faulting for awhile, gazes at die illustri 

■:itn, and "Who is it j" he cries: u who ia that mighty 
one that lias come down to the rescue! Who La it that 
ha< agonized in the garden, that 1ms bled under the 

urge, and died upon the cross? Who is it P* Why, 
who should it be but the very Being whom lie has so 
basely and bo ungratefully insulted I and with the grace 
of love and the tenderness of the man Christ Jesus, 
there is blended the majesty of the King of kings. Oh, 

cannot doubt after that; that is an argument likely 
to overturn all his skepticism. lie looks at the cross, 
and that God is righteous; but he looks at the 

Crucified, and he sees that God is love; and, with 
clasped hands and streaming eyes and grateful heart, 
he BingS, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and 
there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." 

III. And then, again, God is the Christian's imukit- 
a.wi:, also as the best of sis Soul. The restlessness 
of human ambition has become proverbial. It is grasp- 
ing as the Leech, insatiable as the grave. The moment 
one scheme has succeeded, it pants for the enjoymenl 

another. The' moment it has Bcaled one eminence 
oi fancied bliss, its cry is "up," ay, from the summit 



196 TIIE CUKISTIAn's INHERITANCE. 

of the Alps. "0 that I had the wingfl of the dove, 

1 then would I fly away and he at rot." This rest- 

3 craving fof something better than earth, although 

it is the companion erf our fallen nature, very plainly 

tells us an important truth — that I b and its oon- 

an immortal Bpirit It pant.- for 
Lething aething mere refined, something 

more intellectual, BOmething mure like QocL That 

which ; . can lill th< ortal mind, 

must b( in which i Feel secure, and 

ting with which it can he satisfied; for bo he 

be happy. 
l. Take the first thought, then — that i /////. 

We are in a i >us world ; of our 

trad -::al guardianship, 

ining influences should be 

on high. Well, lot ua one, into 

our he;. or heads simply by an intellectual 

to our heart- a- a happy alliance — let 

i our h. . • the Lord is our d . 

I the Eoly One of Israel our refuge, ami what can 
I Omnipotence pledged in our behalf I 
eery idea Bhould make heroes of us all ! lie 

may, he most likely will have to pass through the fur- 
; • Dd of afflict ion may he laid upon him ; the 

wind may Bweep swiftly over the de ert, and 

fro the canvas tents of hi elter; hut you can 

ar him crying in the pause > storm — M It is the 

Lord; Let him do what aeemeth to him good." He 



mi 0HBIB1 197 

may haw to suffer the bitterness of bereavement ; death 
may deprive hii i of the beloved of bia bouI ; ther 
be the breaking up of the domestic h( 'I ; the 

fresh laceration of the already bleeding spirits, and the 

iBg asunder of hearts thai have grown together; 
but, in the midsl of this unparalleled suffering, you 
can hear his unmoved faith, saying "The Lord gave, 
and //,. Lard hath taken away"— not the ChaldsBan, 
nor the Babean, nor the whirlwind, nor the flood — u Thb 
Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the 
Lord." A fiercer flood may roll upon him, a heavier 
wave may threaten to overwhelm him, the fires of ven- 

nce may he poured on his head, but even in death's 

iling voice is heard — a Though lie slayme, yet 

will I trust in him. Whom have I in heaven hut thee \ 

and there is none upon earth that I desire beside tliee." 

B. And then take the next thought, that of happir< 
The question of man's chief good has been in all ages 

ciliated upon and determined. All the theorizers on 
the subject have been convinced of this — that it coukl 
consist in nothing interior. And so far they are right. 
That which alone can fill the immortal mind, must have 

ae analogy to the constitution of that mind; and it 
must therefore he steadfast, proof against the fitfulnees 
of ever-changing circumstances; not here to-day and 

d when we need it to-morrow; not present in 

D&mer time when the breezes blow, and failing in 

lime when the blast of the hurricane comes 

down; hut steadfast, always the same and always avail- 



1 ( JS Till; CHRISTIANS INill.KIlAN 

able. And it must be progressive, keeping pace with 
the soul, lasting as long as the soul, keeping aibn 
with it in its triumphal march to holiness and God. 
Well, there are many candidates in the field. Just 
bring them to the I ae for awhile. Pica-;, 

candidate, and she bru the .-"id a very glow- 

IdiptiOD "f | and her \\a lis him 

that tin -I' the siren .-hall make mu.de in hi 

I langh of : Shall he heard in 

dwelling, thai the \ and dance and c 

nival .-hail yield him bu< light But lie 

ever 

OTOW, 1 . l'"r the 

dark Bluml A 1 dial el" 

but 
her 

ed clim< , - bonor is a can- 

Is him of a Wl 

■ 

: 

rid, Bui I d they 

tell him 1' a a 

hi ; they tell him that the thing in the 

de universe is popular applause — how the same lips 
that shouted u Eosanna to the Son of Davidl w Bhouted 
sfterward, "Crucify him! crucify himl" and 
how the mob-idol of to-day ten been the mob- 

victim of b \\\ Then Wealth IS a candidate; and 

she tells him of the pie • are of hoarding, of the joys of 



Ni! OHKJBTIAN' INUK&i • ID'J 

session, i»f tlu* pomp, and power, and flattery, and 
which money can procure. But h< 
u Je " Ele hears that Bhe brings with her 

her own diecontenl ; thai the cares of keeping arc worse 
than the cares of getting ; thai often in times of panic, 
like the Beared eagle, wraith takes to itself wings and 
flies awav ; and even if a man enjoy it all his life long, 
though failure and panic may not cbme to strip the lord 
of his property, death shall come and Btrip the properly 
of its lord. 

Well, then, after all these, the joys of earth, have been 
I and severally found wanting, God brings his 
ela: re the mind, offering to be the soul's refuge 

and everlasting home. True itself, it does not shrink 
from the test. God's aids are steadfast, they avail in 
the win! in the summer; in the dark season 

of adversity as well as when the sun shineth on the 
path; when frost depresses the spirit as well as when 
tshine fills it with laughter; when friends troop up 
ami when friend- forsake equally ; when fortune smiles 
and when the world turns the cold shoulder. Are thej 
always the same? Are they not? Oh! if the de< 
rums of the sanctuary would permit it to-night, are 
there not many of you who could rise up in your deep 
baptism of BOITOW and Bing in the words of the poet? — 

" When our sorrows most increase, 
Then hia richi re given; 

Jesoi comes in our disti i 

And ftgonj is heaven. "' 



200 THE CHRISTIAN'S UHUWFTAH 

Are they progressive! Will they last as long as the 
S' ail I Will they keep young Bfl it and keep pace 

with it as it travels along toward holinesB and Gh 
Oh, yes I for before all the immense and varied bu 
cape of ble upon which the eye can n 

the fullness of Deity; beyond it, stretching forth, a 
broad, fathomless infinity — 

Which neither knows measure nor end." 

3. Passi rend topics that might he worthy 

of our meditation, ju>r Lei r amomenl at 

the support I to //" CJirisi wr and 

arti dome with me^ then, will yon! it will 

do you good. Dome with me to the Christian's death- 
bed; and if tl. I hearted and skeptical infidel 
quaintance, bring him with you, that he may 
ham at once the wort] f human pride and the 
ry of the God of Ioy< etched upon a couch 
the poor r— 

u Wl , attrnu.i' 

| hut a nan 

[a this the man — is this the being who but a little while 

i in all the strength of hi* pride 1 I- this 

tched hand that which clasped yours in friendship 

but a little while ago! Ah, how true it is that he 

cometh forth as s flower and is cut down! But what 

1S it tills that closing eye with such unwonted bright- 
it What is it that kindles thai pallid cheek into 



I BJU8T1 L» - imii:i:i MlN< EX 

Buck angelic animation J Ah! there is a mightier than 
vuii, and a mightier than death ; there is God in thai 
death-chamber. There is an awe and b solemnity 
which tells of the presence of God. Listen! Listen to 

i unfaltering firmness with which thai voice sin 
u Mv flesh and my hear! faileth; bai God is the Btrengtb 
my heart and my portion forever,' 3 Eb that enthn- 

i8m! Are these the accents of Brenzyi Does mad- 
ness talk so calmlyl Has the prospect of dissolution 
no chilling influence! Tan a fictitious excitement sup- 
port the bouI at such an hour! Ah! that is a stout- 
hearted hypocrisy that can brave the agony of dying. 
But here is triumph in death. Stoicism boasts of her 
examples ; patriotism lias a long list of worthies, for 
whom the world lias woven garlands of undying bloom. 
But here is a man, a poor, frail, erring, insignificant 
man, going with his eyes open, with the full conseious- 

38 of his position, down the dark valley, to meet, to 
grapple with, and to master his last enemy. There is a 
•tade of the morally sublime that I challenge the 
wide universe to equal. And this sublime spectacle is 
not of the wisdom of men ; it is just the power of God. 
But while we have been talking about him, the man 
has died ; the last convulsion is past ; the last breath is 
drawn ; the last pulse has completed its feeble throb — 

u Ob change, oh wondrous chan j 

There lies the BOullesa clod : 
The sun eternal breaks ; the new immortal wakes — 
Wakes with bis Cod." 
n* 



202 toe christian's inheritance 

There is high festivity in the realms of the blest at the 
accession of another member to the rejoicing family. 
And the harpere harping with their harj in their 

music awhile, and the angels, who pry f< into the 

mysteries of God, take holiday from their - for 

awhile, and all heaven is gathered to witness the core- 
nation of the rejoicing believer as the crown is placed 
on his head by the ICaster for whom he has done and 
suffered BO much. Ah ! what A is that i lie 

takes the crown and ca-ts it again at the feet of the 

giver, and lie bi dgning his reason — listen, we shall 

hear, for the m -till jnst now — what kb it I k * Ah, 

Lord, the harp, and the robe, and the crown, and the 

palm, what are all these to me1 These are only the 
appendages of [ on art my reward; 

thou art my portion; whom have 1 in heaven itself hut 

thee P 1 And then the harpers harping with their harps 

hivak out again, they ran hold in no longer, and heaven 

with an irrepressible gnsh of melody, v * NTd 

unto na, not unto us, hut unto thy name he all the 
gloiy.' 1 And that is the end. Who does not >ay, M I 
me die the death of the righteons, and let my lasl end 

he like hi.- P 1 Ah, hut there are many people that pray 

that prayer, who would like to die the death of the 
righteous, hut who do net like to live the lite of the 

righteous. 1 > u t they go b ; believe me thej 

together. If you would die the death of the righte< 

you mUS( live the life of the rightOOUS, even a life ol 
faith in the Sou of Qod, "who hath loved you and 



nu; <'iii;mia.\', imii i:ii a\ 

en himself for you." There are aome in this 

amblj to-night, who ire dlo1 living the life of the 

righteous; you l ia\ ^ n«»t given yourselvea unto Chrisl 

and his people, and there is do hope of thai death for 

you. 

There is another death which I dare no1 trust myself 
to describe — scenes of agony over which J draw the 
veil — the very thought of which freezes the vitals and 
curdles the Mood ! Oh I come to Jesus ; do not tempi 
upon yourselves any Buch doom as that. Get Christ for 
you all. "1 live," as eays the rejoicing Apostle ; u ye( 
not I, Imt Christ livetli in me" — so shall everything 
lead you up to God. It could not lead you to undervalue 
the life you now live ; it would not make you love less 
this beautiful world ; everything around you will only 
have mystic meanings which will be interpreted only 
by Christ; you will be led thus from nature up to 
nature's God. Then, as you pass through scenes of 
beauty and blessedness, your full heart, taking refuge 
in the language of poesy, will sing — 

"Lord of earth, thy forming hand 
Well this beauteous frame hath planned: 
Woods that wave, and hills that tower, 
Ocean rolling in its power; 
All that strikes the gaze unsought, 
All that, charms the lonely thought. 
yet, amid this scene so fair, 
Oh! if thou writ fcbsent there, 
What were all those joys to me ; 
Whom have I on earth hut the 



2 1 THl OHBISTIAH's lNHLKlI ANCK. 

Then, travelling through the path of your pilgrims 

God, your own God, will bless you, and will wipe away 

all tears from your lace-, and will uplift you in the 

hiranee and prepare you for the duties of life; and 

,r pilgrimage will go OH calmly; mellow eventide 

will come upon yon, yet at eventide there shall l>< v 
.t. The last stroke will be Btruck,the last enemy 
wintered, the last change realized, and amid the 

ranks of t' ! yon pass to pay your iir.-t bom- 

, and even then, taking n :ain 

in the . will your thoughts be the 

same — 

M Loi I of b< ight 

- a world Oi 

i in ; 
ng8 
"> . • I thou wcrt il 

May God bring that song forever, \ % <>v 



VIII. 
THE BEAVENLT OONQUEEOR 

"And I saw, and behold a white hone; and lie that sat on him had 

how ; tad I orown WBS given unto him ; and he went forth conquering and 
to conquer" — Bar, vi, 2. 

How animating is the sound of war ! How easily can 
it awaken the ardors of the unrenewed and unsanctified 
heart of man ! There is no profession in which he can 
gain more renown and applause than in the profession 
<>f arms. It is the birthplace of what men call glory. 

atom has baptized it honorable ; it carries with it a 
pomp and a circumstance of which other professions 
are destitute ; it has nerved the arm of the patriot, it 
has fired the genius of the painter, it has strung and 
swept the poet's lyre ; nations have bowed before its 
shrine, and even religion has prostituted herself to bless 
and consecrate its banners. Yet it must not be for- 
gotten that for the most part human conquerors arc just 
murderers upon a grand scale — mighty butchers of 
human kind. Their victories are won amid extermina- 

i ami havoc; their track is traced in ruin; there is 
human life upon their laurels; and if they wish to 

[uireaname, they have L r, >t one; let them glory as 

900 



200 THE HEAVENLY CONQUEROR. 

they can in its possession — the of blood proclaims 

it from the ground, and it is vaunted from earth to 
heaven by the waitings of orphaned hearts, and by the 
>p execrations of despair. The sacred writings, how- 
ever, tell us of one conqueror whose victories w 
peacefully achieved, whose battles werebloo llessly won ; 
or if his onward march wi 1 by Mood, it v 

v>. It i ' - Christ who is thus 

fly Bet before da rho "died the jnst for the 

unjust, that he might IS* In the fulfill- 

nit of the varioi I with the medii 

rial he had undertaken, he [uently 

repr Ins adwr- 

lie word month, and 

Lining in c\ultati<»n and triumph. Instances of this 

i will r tember, Thus, in the 

P lm: "Gird thj ord apon thy thigh, 1 1 

mofil mighty, with th\ I thy majesty. And in 

iii-r of truth and 

-s and rig: : and thy right hand shall 

terribl " Again, in the eleventh 

. m armed keepeth 
his paid are in peace : bnt when a stronger 

than be shall come upon him and oyercome him, he 
taketh from him all his armor wherein he fcnwted, and 
divideth hi \ 1 yet, again, according 

my I the Book of R : on, 

M Th( Ml all make war with the Lamb, and the 

them." It matt 4 how 



nr.w i R 

numerous or how powerful his enemies maj like 

over the powers of darkness with their legioned bo 
of foes— alike over the corruption of the human hearl 
with all its ramifications of depravity — alike over the 
us into which the corruption has ted, 

i many garrisoned and fortified town-, " a 
Lven unto him, ami he goeth forth conquering 
and aquer." I; is nol my intention to enter into 

all the details ('t' this interesting ami absorbing Btrife. 
I should j usr like to concentrate your attention apon 
one phase of the conflict — the battle of the old serpent 
the devil, the great origin of evil, under whose general- 
ship the others are mustered, and to whose commands 
they submittingly how. Behold, then, the combat bc- 
::d all others important — the combat between Christ 
5 tan for the human soul, and, as you trace the 
prog ■:" the fight, remember with encouragement, 

and Bay that " lie goeth forth conquering and to 
pier." It will be necessary, in order that we have 
the whole matter before us, that we introduced the 
strife, the battle, and the victory. 
1. As to the cause of strife. Yon know that when 
iprising benevolence of God found heaven 
,u! for the completion of his vast designs, this 
earth arose in order and in beauty from his forming 

hands. After by his Spirit lie had garnished the 

-, and BCattered upon the fair face of nature the 

labor of his hand and the Impress of his feet, a- the 

fairest evidence of Divine workmanship, the last and 



208 THE HEAVENLY CONQUEROR. 

most excellent of his works below, he made man in his 
own image, after his own likenes-. The soul, then, was 
the property of him by whom it was created, who 
imparted to it its high and noble faculties, by whom, 
notwithstanding its defilement, it is Btill sustained, and 
from whom proceed the retributions which shall fix its 

>m forever, Man was created in possession of that 

>ral purity, that absolute freedom from sin, which 
constituted of itself assimilation to his Maker's image. 
And bo long a- he d that image, - i long was ho 

Divine property, and the Divine portion alone. 
But the moment lie Binned, the moment of the perver- 
. of the i of hi.- (acuities, 

of the alienation of hi ie under a different 

ore, and became a vassal of a different lord. 

i inhabitant of the high realms 

jloiy, but hurled from that giddy height for di 
bddience and - mysteriously permitted to 

tempt our first parents in the garden, with the full 
knowledge, on their part, that, Btanding as they did in 
their repr* •, and public character, if they foil 

the consequences of that one transgression were en- 
tailed upon all their posterity. With the cireumi 
<>f the original temptation you are of course familiar, 
and the issue of il you haw- in that one verse in the 

1 k of Q is: " Because thou hast done this, thou 

art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast ef 
the field ; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt 

thou eat all the days of thy life." This tells US of the 



in w i m.v OOtfQI i H 

itravention the direct contravention of a known 

Law : g law which God, as the Bupreme Creator, bad a 

In-' i; ate ; a law which man, b 
dependent creature, was under binding obligation 

\. It was instituted avowedly as a test of obe- 
dience ; and thia is all we would answer to the Labored 
Btrcasma of foolish infidelity. Anv wayfaring man, 
though a fool, can curl bis lip ami declaim against the 
insignificance of the act from which such mighty is 
sprang; but he forgets that the moment the tempta- 
tion was yieled to, there was in human nature a very 
incarnation of the devil. Under that demoniacal pos- 
session the man was prepared for any infraction, from 

eating of the forbidden fruit to the subversion of an 
almighty throne; ami he who, under such circum- 
stances, would violate a known command, however 
trifling, would not, if the circumstances had been 
ojual, have shrunk away from the endeavor to scale 
the battlements of heaven, and pluck the crown of 
divinity from the very brow of the Eternal. Hence it 
WttA, by yielding to the suggestions of the tempter, and 
to bis infamous temptation, that the portals of the 
palace were flung wide open for the strong man armed 
to outer ; and hither, alas ! he came with all his Bad and 
•fii] train, enthroning himself upon the heart, setting 
Up his image, as Bunyan hath it, in the market-place 
of the town of Man-soul ; fortifying every avenue, tilling 
every chamber, corrupting every faculty, enervating 
every inhabitant, and announcing every moment the 



210 TUB HKA.VJENLY OONQUKBOib 

symbols of liis own resolve to grasp and hold it forever. 
Here then is in brief the cause of this celestial strife. 

soul, a colony of heave l, ha i been taken usurped 
l» ^session o£ by the po^ bell, and the effort to 

restore it to allegiance was the main cau-e of this 
ial war. 

ill farther to impress you with the weighty i 

of the Strife, let US remind you for a moment of the 

character of the government thus by daring usurpation 
[nired. The dominion which Satan exei >vear 

the human sou] is i ' - character. He is not a 

monarch, be is an autocrat ; he admits no compromi 
lie 1' upon every 

• and e\ itv 

ilty of man. True, the man i- not always conscious 

-'awry : thai cunningesl of 

vassals that they are 

ad the::- Led la:. to any <»!ic who 

, •• v, be Abraham's children that 

never in !»-•: i any man." He brands them 

as is own, and then, tr his badge, they 

ma 3 .Ilr has n«> uniform. 

are in rags and others in purple, 

and his very el n the livery of 

. There e within tin- compare Of the 

whole human family who is ii«»t subject t-> his authority, 

irally led captive by the devil at his will. And 

then, thi rnment of Satan over the human neolis 

not only d< degrading. Slavery in any form 



BOB, 2J 1 

ifl i — nt iall v connected wit 1 1 degradation] and in the 

- i before as the connection must be regarded ;;- the 

most palpable and emphatic of all. The essence and 

moral dignity are assimilations to the 

1 I i. Whatever recedes from thai imi 

ad degrade. Now the con 

of man'.- life, as it has been, ever since the fall, a 

-'ant and increasing recession from God, 

presents a spectacle of moral degradation which is 

tvous to behold: the whole nature has fallen; the 

understanding has become darkened, and is conversant 

only with what is contemptible and low ; the affections, 

which i I sublimely upward, now cleave to 

worldly objects, objects that perish in the using; the 

passions have become loyal servants of the usurper, and 

keep their zealous patrol in the court-yard of his 

palace ; the will, which once inclined to good, is now 

fierce and greedy alter evil ; imagination revels in 

fondest dalliance with sin for its paramour; and con- 

«ce, intoxicated with opiate draughts, and in that 

intoxication smitten with paralysis, gazes hopelessly 

upon the desolation ; or if at times stirred by the spirit 

within, it breaks out with a paroxysm and terrifies the 

man with its thunder, he is persuaded to regard it as 

the incoherenc - i meddling drunkard, or * 

ravings of some frantic madman. Such is the Condi- 

Hon to which the u i >n of the evil one has 

reduced the human soul. It is firsl earthly, scraping 

its affluence <>r its pleasure together; and then, yet 



212 THE BBAVBETLY OOBQffH ... 

more degrading, there is the transformation that hap- 
pened to Nebuchadnezzar, the heart of a man is taken 
out, and the heart of a beast is put in ; and then. 
like grows to like, and as a process of assimilation Is 
atantly _ o its master's imago; 

the mark of the beast bee more distinct and pal- 

pable, i atnre stands confessed of Sat;, ene 

and loathsome lik< , and there is a living proof of 
truth of the Bcale upon which Scripture has 

oeracy. Fiifcl earthly, 
then Benaual, then devilish. This is a fearful picture,; 

IS it DLOl 1 A"; I man, or his bacchanalian 

. !, but you do n.n iee the 
fiend thai dogs hi - ds him ion, 

:hat once b 
the im. ;, but \ <»ii d the jibi 

mo hind. Vuii trace intelligibly 

the infenu id, bul you cannot hear the 

:• as the arch-devil, looking 
d<»wn upon the bou! that • i. exults in the 

of the i td glories in the pollution 

of the fallen* 

government of Batan over the human sou] is not 

only de bul <L i Sin and 

• are inseparably allied ; the powers of dark- 

mysteriously permitted a certain amount 

of imli; . Ln punishment, " pesen cd 

in chains under darkness until the judgment pf tbq 

who tr, >oi> 



Tin: 1 1 1 a \ i \ rQUl ROB. 

s upon the freedom of his will, musl ne 

b;u-;Iv h | (| as willful ; lie is under the curses of a 

I law, nay, condemned altogether, for u the 
I od abideth upon 1 1 1 1 1 1 . " God will k * pour out 
Indignation, and wrath, ami tribulation, and anguish 
apon every bou! of man thai doeth evil ; upon the Jew 
first, and also apon the Gentile;" for there is no ro- 
il of persons with God. I am Bpeaking to uncon- 
verted aimers to-night ; to some of refined ami delicate 
ability, shocked at the ribaldry of the vulgar, ami 
the licentiousness of the profane. I tell you there 
is no respect of persons with God. If you flee not to a 
high and mighty Redeemer, if you repose not in 
present reliance upon Christ, for you there remaineth 
nothing but a death whese bitterest ingredient is that it 
can never die, hut that it has eternity about it, eternity 
beyond it, and eternity within it, and the curse of God, 
it, fretting it and following it forever. 
Thank God, there is a promise of a perfect and de- 
lightful deliverance from this thralidom under which 
man has been groaning. Christ lias come down on 
purpose to deliver and ransom him, and he goeth forth 
Conquering and to conquer. In the counsels of the 
eternal Godhead, in foresight of the temptation of 
m and ot* the thralldom and depravity of man, 
Christ was induced to work out a counteracting scheme, 
by which, in the beautiful language ot' ancient pro- 
phecy, the prey of the mighty should be taken away 
I the lawful captive deliv< : - -d. The first initimatio'i 



214: THE HEAVENLY CONQUEROR. 

of this scheme was given just when the first shadow of 

Bin BWept over tlie world. "He Beed of the woman 

;! braise the Berpentfs head." From that time th 

was a continued series of operations, in the good provi- 

denoe of God perpetuated for thousands . all 

tending to the fulfillment <>i' this original promise, and 

the achievement of th inal plan. At last, in the 

follness of time — the time by prophet - foretold, 

and by believing saint- expected — in the fullness of time, 

! was incarnated in the nature that had 

sinned, and thru it was that the battle in earnest began. 

II. Look, ■ ;t the Divine Baviour, <( stronger 

g man armed,' 1 invested with far higher 

qualifications, and wielding Tar mightier power. Ami 

how La tlil- r II. ' is the babe in Bethlehem, the 

! wanderer, th I rebel, the scourj 

and spit upon, the , the crucified. But t! 

are only volnnl id in the deepest humi- 

liati v dumb »e within. ki All power 

given onto Me both in heaven and in earth/' and this 

power is all enlisted upon the side of salvation and of 
mercy. It is not the power of the lightning, that 

blasts while it brightens; it 5- not the power of the 
whirlwind, whose track is only known by the cam 
ami desolation that it leaves behind it. It is the power 
of the water rill, that drops ;md drops, and in its drop- 
ping melts the most -tern and difficult of natu 
forces. It is the power of the light; il Sows in ener- 

■ hear it as it flows, and yet it 



BBAVBNL1 I BOB. 

and illumines all. I [e is bI rong, bul b 
to deliver; he ia mighty, but, in La own pon erful 
lam i " mighty to Baye." It often happen 

it i. frequently than it. does now in 

the the Btrifes of nations, and of the harsh 

of war, that the interest of spectators was drawn 
le from hostile ranks to two courageous champions, 
wh<> separated themselves from opposing armies for 
combat with each other, and the fate of arn 
peared to the spectators as nothing compared with 

who should he the victor in this individual strife. 01 

if it were possible, a single combat between 

the rival princes of light and darkness, the grand, the 
transcendent, the immeasurable issue of which shall be 

the ruin or redemption of the human soul! I cannot 
limn it; I cannot bring it fairly before you; the sub- 
ject is too mighty: and yet a thought or two may not 

inaptly illustrate the battle that is now before us. 

, then, the lists are spread ; the champions aro 
there. Eager angels crowd around, for they have an 
interest in the strife, and they are anxious to tunc their 
harps to the anthems of regeneration again. Exulting 
demons are there, flushed with high hopes they dare 
BOl name, that vaunt of a ruined universe and of a 
peopled hell. This is no gentle passage at arm- ; this is 
no tournament, or mimic fight, or holiday 

lew; the destinies of a world ^[' souls are trembling 
in the balance now — depend for weal <»r woe upon tiic 

e of this mortal strife. 



216 TIJi: HEAVENLY CONQUEROR. 

The first grapple seems to have been in the timjrfa- 
tio/i in the wilderness; for at the commencement of our 
Saviour's public ministry the enemy endeavored to 
tempt the Becond Adam after the same fashion as he 
had tempted the first; and when wearied withl&boti, 
and exhausted with endurance and Buffering from the 
pangs of hunger and of thirst, he brought before him a 
der of temptation to that which had been 
successful in the garden of Eden. Ah! but there was a 

ghtier Adam in human flesh this time with whom 
had to deal Grasping th I of the spirit, with its 

trenchant blade, lie cat a flimsy sophistries 

of the * mfited demon 

went baffled away ; and came and ministered 

unto .1 ann >d with their ambrosial wings his 

burning brow, and pour P trindm 

a]" •■ • igued and b >m >ul. 

enemy returned to 
the dia: I the i 

I ' . in ordinary warfare, 

ever a 1 em, for the con- 

it with Borne of his own soldiers, and 

leave some trusty captain in charge. The enemy 

app i have acted upon this plan, and in token of 

nsurped authority e human race, be caused 

tain of his servants to enter into tin* bodies *f men. 

When Christ came into the world thoy brought unto 

him those that were grievously vexed with devils. He 

Bat down b une of their Bebastopols of the evfl 



BOB, SJ17 

ing by thai high exorci m, he 

intruders ; and as, some in m ly m!< • 

with piteous eric-, they rushed oul from the 

1, we can trace in their com- 

• :i cf their defeat : k * What ! 

dp with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God. Art thou 

gome to torment as before the turn 

T next was the death grapple. And was the cham- 

i smitten? Did he bend beneath that felon's 

Was tb re victory at last for the powers of 

hell 1 [magine, if you can, how there would be joy is 

of the evil one when the Saviour expired; 

how he would exult at that victory which had more 

than recompensed the struggle of four thousand years. 

Sours roll on; lie makes no sign ; day and night sue- 

1 each other; there is no break upon the slumber — 

their victory appears complete and final. Shall no one 

undeceive them? No; let them enjoy their triumph 

ia4hey may. It were cruel to disturb a dream like 

t, which will have so terrible an awaking. But we, 

ithren, with the light of eighteen hundred years 

taming down upon that gory field, understand the 

matter better. lie died, of course, for only thus could 

ith be abolished ; he was counted with tra 

thus only could sin be forgiven ; he was 

made a cuy-k) for us, of course, because thus ouly could 

he turn the curse into a ble 0! to faith's en- 

. there is a surpassing --lory upon that 

II<* was never so kingly as when eirt about with 

10 



213 THE HEAVENLY CONQUEROR. 

that crown of thorns ; there was never so much royalty 
upon that regal brow as when he said, M It is finished/' 
and he died. 

There only remains one more grapple, and that was in 
the rising from the <!■ ad o ■ n\n. It is 

considered the principal glory of a conqueror, you know, 

not merely that lie repels the dve attacks of his 

.hut when h< J the war into that enemy's camp 

and make.- him own himself vanquished ID the metropolis 

i wn empire. Tie did by concealing himself 

for a while within the cham \e. We cannot 

tell you much about the battle, for it was a night attack, 
it took | in tell the issue, because 

on the morning pulchrewai empty, 

and the B r had gone forth into Galilee, This 

ping up of the fruits <>f the 
diet 1 It was finished 

whefa he Baid ' apon t : - ; but this ws 

p, when the guards vi 

drawn i . aging in the jlush 

Bj death he had abolished death — 

him that had the | of death. By his resurrection 

h spoiled principalities and | ; and then ! 

up that he might M mak< ow of them openly.? 5 

You can almost follow him as he goes, and the chal- 

: *- Wlio ia this that cometh from Iv.lom 
with dyed garments from Bozrat this that is gloorii 
in his apparel travelling in the greatness of hi* 



0OVQ1 i BOB* 219 

h P' Ami then cornea the answer : M I thai speak 
in mighty to Bai i'." M [a£l ap your 

heads, ye gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting 
doers \ and the King of glory shall come in, WTio is 
• ;" glory 1 The Lord strong and mighty, the 
■d mighty In battle, [aft ap your heads, ye 
gates ; even lift them op ye everlasting doors ; and the 
King of glory Bhall come in." 

M And through the portals wide outspread 
The vast procession pours." 

And on he marches through the shining ranks of the 
ransomed, until he gets to tho throne and points to the 
captives of his bow and spear, and claims his recom- 
ae. And " there is silence in heaven ;" and there is 
given unto him " a name that is above every name ; 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and 
every tongue confess that lie is Lord, to the glory of 
1 the father." It is finished. Now he rests from his 
labors, and now he sheathes his sword, and now he 
wears his crown. 

III. Just a word or two upon the victory that he 
gained. It was complete, it was benevolent, it was 
QBchanging. 

The attack which the Saviour made upon the enemy 
was Bach u to tear away the very Bonrces and energ 
of his power. Mark how each fresh onset, whether 

>m earth or hell, has only enhanced his glory and 
brightened the conqueror's crown, lie vanquished in 



296 THE HEAVENLY CONQUEROR. 

his own person by dying, and in the person of his fol- 
lowers he has continued to manifest that indestructible 
energy which was always manifest just when it seemed 
to be overthrown. Why, at the commencement of 
Christianity would not ai hough! that a 

breath would annihilate it and extei te the name 
of lis found< : I And there they were — 

throne, Herod on the bench, Pilate 

nple, | and 

R ! together to crush 

! the ( lalilean, 01 ercame. And bo it 

has been in all atil now. Pn n has lit';. .1 

ii]» her I ruth ; war-wolvea hai e lapped 

up : ulenced the 

wit faithful 

hafl . and 

f lire in 

whi I to heaven. Ami 

not this triumph mi 

ted in • • in the individual, 

onlj inl o a salvabli . but 

:-\ part of every man !. The poor body 

ii : '.; to cas! off the grave 

cloti rlasting r< in 

heaven. The mind crouches no ' ; it emancipi 

; in the lib* 
wherewil I I made it free. And the whole man, 
who was a whi] an alien, degraded and desolafc 

lit t i the beasl in his lair, a worthy fol- 



ill a\ i m | « ONQl i BOB. 221 

lower in the serpent's trail, is now "clothed and in his 
right mind," careering along in the enterpri i of godli- 
ness, a fellow-citizen with Baintsand the household of God. 
And then the triumphs of the Saviour are &< tu vol* nt 
too. Tell tne nol of human glory, ii is a prostituted 
word. Tell me nol of A.gincourt, and Cressy, and 
Waterloo, and of the high places of Moloch worship, 
where men have been alike both priests and victims. 
One verse of the poet aptly describes them all : 

u Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, 

Last eve in beauty's circle proudly gay. 
The midnight brought the signal sound of strife; 

The morning marshalling in arms; the day 

Battle's magnificently stern array, 
The thunder clouds close o'er it, which when rent, 

The earth is covered quick with other clay, 
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, 
Rider and horse, friend and foe, in one rude burial blent ." 

But what is it to be seen in the time of the Lord's 
victory I Plains covered with traces of recent carnage, 
and of recent havoc ? What is there to he heard in the 
time of the Lord's victory ? Orphans wailing the dead, 
widows bemoaning those that have departed ? No, but 
a voice breathing down a comfortable word to men: 
" They shall neither hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain, saith the Lord." The procession of this 

iqueror consists of saved souls, and eternity shall 
consecrate the scene. 

And then the triumphs of the Saviour are not only 



229 Tin; hkayi;nly < 1:. 

complete and benevolent, but unchanging. The th; 
that are now are very transitory. The Band of the 

chaff of the summer 

threshing re helpless on the wind; but 

riumphs brighten with the lapse q£ time; 

their 1 not, nor death itself 

roy- < ) ! think e multitude thai have 1.. 

already Baved I think of the multitude who w\>\\\ np in 

irch with its enric i of 

Lose wh.> had been tak< q off to 

hea r had ; v the Minili- 

tud< rai aomed by the 

from birth under the \\ in 
the quiverii y into I 'm> of 

l from 1 time of 

the until now who 1 

through d ; (k of the multi- 

tud trth thai ..nt their salva- 

tion with t ; think of the Btill greater 

multitudes thai Bhall ; the ( !hureh in the 

tin. . when t! it shall 

be Bhul day or night, b( there Bhall be Dp 

chai shutting them, the people crowd in bo ta-i. 

( > what a Jubilee in 1 I l I itheting of emanei- 

pated spirits I Limit the he atonement I 

Who dares do it I Talk aboul Chri I dying f<>r a fe* 

of men merely I Wle, . 
is to ch ar with cowar ad brinj 

■lur upon his c nducl in the Held If there he 



THH iii:avi.m.y i BOB. 223 

itary soul the wide universe through for whom 
Ohrisl did not die, over thai bou] death has triumphed, 
and the conquest of my Saviour is imperfect and 

>mplete. 01 1 ta to stand in his triumphal 

charier, in the very centre of the universe, with 
exulting heaven before and with tormented hell be- 
hind; and there is not an unconquered rebel there bul 
tlie glad halleluiahs of the one, and the solemn acqui- 
i' the other, peal out the universe's anthem, 
•• lie is Lord of all/' 

And now Which side are you? Pardon the abrupt- 
ness of the question, but answer it to your consciences 
and to your God notwithstanding. Which side are 
jrou I There is no neutrality in this war, or if there be 

• here that intends to preserve a dastardly neutrality, 
he wid get the hottest of the battle, and be exposed to 
the cross-fire of both sides. Which side are you ? Do 
you belong to the Lord, or the Lord's enemies i Ask 
yon 3 that question in the sight of God. I never 

knew, until I looked upon it in this aspect, the force 
and power of a certain question which the Saviour 
presented in the days of his flesh. I have admired the 
Capacities of the human soul, that it has a memory that 
can recall the past, imagination that can penetrate the 
future : that it has a will that no man can tame, that it 
ha- immortality as its heritage. But I see all heaven 
in earnest there, and all hell in earnest yonder, and the 
prize of the conflict is one poor human soul ; and then 
I saw before, what an intensity of 



224: THE HEAVENLY OONQUEBOB. 

emphasis there is in the awful inquiry : u AVhat shall it 
profit a man if he shall gain the whole woi'ld, and Lofie 
his own soul T' Brethren, how shall it be with you'. 
u Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is 
the enemy of God;'' and the doom ot' the enemies 
God is brought before us in the Bible: " Bring hither 
those mi tniea that would not I should reign ovjar 

them, and day them before me." On which Bide are 
youl There ifl one passage that I Bhould just like to 
bring before you, which has always appeared to me to 
be one of the most fearful in the whole compftss <>f the 
book of God: " WTien the unclean spirit is gone out of 

a man" — mark it, it does UOl Bay when he is driven 

t, it does qoI say when he is dispossessed by Buperior 
powers) but the awful idea, almost too awful to be 
irtained, is thai there are some people in this world 
of ours of whom Satan is bo Bure thai he can leave 
them for a while, perfectly certain thai they will sweep 
and garnish his house in his absence, and prepare it for 
Beven other Bpirits more inveterate and cruel — * k When 
the unclean spirit is gone oul of a man he walketh 
through dry places, Beeking rest, and findeth none. 
Then he Baith, I will return onto my house.' 1 O 
moekery of that quiet empire! "To my house.' 9 The 
tenancy has nol changed; he knows full well there is 
much love of the master's service in the heart of 

the man for that. U I will return into my house from 
whence I came out ; and when he is come lie findeth it 

empty, swepl and garnished. Then goeth he, and 



m.w : N 

taketh with liimself seven other spirits more wicl 

than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and 

last state of thai man is worse than the first. n Oh 

rrible ! horrible 1 Not merely to have Satan a a 

st 3 but to Bweep and garnish the house that he may 

iie in, and thai he may bring with him seven other 

more wicked than himself. And arc yon doing 

• I [s there one in the presence of God to-night to 

whom this awt'ul passage will apply I Oh, I thank God 

I can preach to yon a present salvation in the name 

Jesns, Be delivered from that bondage of yours, for 

Christ has come down on purpose that lie may deliver, 

and that he may rescue, and he goetli forth conquering 

and to conquer. "Ask, and it shall be given you; 

k, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 

unto yon.' 1 There is salvation for you from the power 

df death, and from the thralldom and ascendency of 

- itting sin, and from the grasp of the destroyer. 

There is salvation for you in Christ Jesus the Lord. 

Whterefore he is able to save to the uttermost of human 

guilt, to the uttermost of human life, to the uttermost 

of human time. May God help you, for Christ's sake. 



10* 



IX. 



HIE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH, LIFE, PROSPECTS, 
AND DUTY. 

M Set your affections on things above, not on tilings on the earth. Tor 
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who 
is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 1 ' — 
Collossians iii. 2, 3, 4. 

In the former part of this delightful and valuable 
epistle, the Apostle has been reminding the Colossians 
of their privileges, and the covenant blessings which 
they inherited in Christ. lie tells them that they have 
entered upon a new dispensation, that the system of 
types and shadows has accomplished its purpose, and 
has been fulfilled, that their circumcision was of the 
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, and that they 
were " complete in Christ, who is the head of all prin- 
cipality and power." Lest, however, by these con- 

• rations, any of them should be exalted above 
measure, he urges them that they live unto God, tells 
them that, although freed from the yoke of ceremonial 

aervance, their obligation t<> obey was as Btricl and as 
binding as ever, and though no longer impelled by 
slavish and spiritless fear, the love of Christ should eon 



228 TIIK CHRISTIAN 8 DEATH, 

Btrain them to a closer evangelical obedience. There is 
no antinomianisin, brethren, in the Gospel ; it tells na 
that faith without worl ad ; that however largely 

it may talk about it- fa je of the better land, 

however it may imagine itself to he exalted through the 
abundance of its revelations, it' it <!<> n<>t work by love 
and purity of heart, if it do not exerl a transforming 
influence upon the character and lite, there is no qoujid- 

i.. — in it, and it ifl hut a q and drln>i\e mim- 

ickry of ith whir' itle, in impn 

ing this fact upon their mind-. hallowed ground ; 

them of their prh . that he 

may tin- more effectually in-' duty; and 

for the grandeur of tfa their entire 

•• I;' 3 e then In- risen with ( Ih-Im." 

of the old dispen- 

fth and newj if 

ha\ :* communion with 

:<• justified by faith, sanctified by the 

Spirit, and travelling t<> 1.' that 

: i your i 

cluster there, and 1 athcring of your ho] 

around urteo uj.cn I 

radi \i M where ( 'hrii b on the righl hand of 

i !•• t] i hortation, and i 

the language of the t. 
,% Bet your bove, not on thing! 

the earth. For y« ad. and your life ifl hid with 

I irist in God, When Christ, who [& our life, ihaU 



in i, ra - and dc i v. 229 

appear, then shall ye also appear with him in 
glory." 

There are four things presented to as in these word* : 
the Christian's death, the Christian's life, the Christian's 
prttepeets, and the Christian's duty ; an ineffable blend- 
ing of precept and promise, upon which, for a few 
moments, it maj profit us to dwell. 

I. The first thing that Btrikes as, is the Christian's 
death. %% For," says the Apostle, u ye arc dead." Js 
not this somewhat of a paradox i Docs not Christ Bay 
i'\|'!v^ly, that lie came not to destroy men's lives, but 
to save them J Was it not one of the purposes of his 

ning, that we might have life, and that we might 
have it more abundantly ? Was it not one of the 
designs of his incarnation, that from the fountain of his 
own underived existence, he might replenish, the veins 
of man, even to life everlasting? And yet, when we 
enter upon his service, the very first thing we are told 
to do is to die. Who shall solve the enigma? Only 
the Scripture, by becoming, as it always does, the 
authorized and satisfactory interpreter of itself. In St. 
PaulV Epistle to Timothy, you find this remarkable ex- 
jMe&ion : u She that liveth in pleasure is dead while 
she liveth. 5 ' You have no difficulty in understanding 
that to mean dead in spiritual things. In that pleasure- 
].>v- art there beats no pulse for God; in that 

spirit* around which the world has flung the of 

its witchery, there is no desire for heaven; the 
engross it, and, although compass d 



THE CHRISTIAN^ DEATH, 

by the realities of the other world, its very existence is 
treated as a question or a fable. Now, just the reverse 
of this, morally considered, will explain to us the state 
of the Christian when the Apostle tells Qfi he is dead. 
The fact is, that between the flesh and the spirit, tin 
is a Litter and irreconcilable enmity; the one cannot 
exist in the ] and by the Bide of the other. 

That which has been garnished for the tempi? erf tho 
Lord, must not he profaned by an idol. Distinct and 

is tin- inspired announcement, 

"Whosoever will be the friend of the world is the 

God." [mpiety has entered into an unholy 

compact to amalgamate these two, to adjust their 

claim-. I them a dit ision oi bul it i 

enant with death — it .-hall he disannulled : it is an 

• with hell— it shall not stand. Religion 

peals out I tnctanl allegiance, b 

1 1 her claim Q] i otire nation, and tolls 

u in I Q( - of power, " "i e can not bi rve < tod and mam- 

on. w The Christian, then. who is a CI ipdeedfc 

regards the world a- it' it were not, and continually 

iplify that his life and conversation 

ifferenoes from the world may not, 

indeed) be apparent to a superficial observer j he g 

t" and fro amoi people like other men ; lie tal 

an • in the ever-shifting bat are panging 

in the world around him; and yet he is dead to the 

w<.rld all the while How are you to lind it out | Tr\ 

him with Borne question of difficulty; set his duty 



LIFE, PB08P1 D D1 I v. 231 

before him, and lei thai dnty be painful, and lei it 
involve Bome considerable deprivation of gain or of 
pleasure; and with Belf-sacrificing devotion, he will 
ofbey the truth, and glory in the trial. Mark him in the 
toidsl of circumstances of discouragement and v, 
when waters of a full cup are wrung out to him ; he is 

rtained by an energy of which the world wottetb not, 
nerved with a principle to which it is an utter Btranger; 
richer Mood animates him, loftier inspirations sparkle 
from his eye, and though surrounded by the tilings of 
sense, and of course in some sort influenced hy their 
impressions upon him, lie tells you plainly that he seeks 
a country, nay, that he has already "risen with Christ," 
and that he lives in the land which is at once his 
treasury and his home. 

We may illustrate the Apostle's meaning again by a 
reference to another passage; that in which he speaks 
of u always bearing about in the body the dying of the 
Lo*d Jedus." The primary reference of the Apostle is to 
the Bufferings which himself and his compatriots were 
called upon to undergo in attestation of the resurrection 
ot' Christ. The enemies of the cross, those who were 

ing their utmost to destroy Christianity, were per- 
plexed and baffled by the disappearance of the Saviour 
from the tomb ; and to account for the mystery, they 
] the apostles with the felony of their master's 
body. Thne two statements were put forth directly 
opposite in character and tendency ; the rulers said the 
i.<'dy was stolen; the apostles said the body had risen. 



232 TnE CHRISTIANS DRATtf, 

The latter could not be disproved; but so intense was 
their hostility against the Nazarene, that persecution 
and power were made use of — compendious, but, 
happily in this case, ineffectual arguments — to silence 
the proclaimers of the truth. The Apostle refers to this 
in the w«»rds that are now before US, and tells tlieni in 

effect that though famine might draw the lire l'rom fads 
. and long-continued suffering might repress and 
undermine the buoyancy of his spirit, and though his 
h might en 1 quail beneath the pressure of 

though in all these ways lie might 
ir aboul in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
. !'V the patience with which those Bufferings were 
borne, by the consolations which abounded in the 
midst of them, nay, by th of the sufferings tlu-ni- 

. he could point to his marred and shattered body, 
and say that i only, but the life, the im- 

mortal life of J< rery moment manifested there. 

But we are not disposed t<> limit this bearing about in 
the bod; the Lord Jesus to apostolic times. 

It is not a thing of one ration merely. We are not 
now called apon^ae irere our fathers, to do it in the Par- 
nate; thefiree of outward persecution have well-nigh 

forgotten to hum ; hut it baa an existence .-till as actual 

and as constant as in days of yore. The Christian 
does bo everj ot of hi- lit'.-, because every 

moment of his life he ex< faith in Christ. And 

his faith is not Only active and appropriat tog, hut 

realizing in its acy: it not only unfolds to him 



I. II ! , P» - . \M» Dl I V. 

the riches and confers on him the blessings of tin 1 

mil ering; it paints it as a living vision before 

the eye of his mind. Darting back through two 
thousand years of pasl time, it place- him in the midst 
of the crowd gathered a1 tHe crucifixion, aye, al the \ ery 
foot of the cross. He sees the victim ; there Is no delu- 
sion in the matter; he walks along the thronged and 
bnstling streets ; men cross his path in haste, speeding 
awav, the "no to his farm and the other to his mer- 
chandise; he converses with a thousand beings, lie 
transacts a thousand tilings; but that scene is ever 
before him ; as the magnet of his highest attractions, 
his eye always trembles to the cross, and in the midst 
of evidence fresher every moment he joins in the cen- 
turion language, his glad language too, "Truly this man 
was the Son of God." With such a spectacle as that 
before him, how can he live unto the world ? With the 
glances of so kind an eye constantly beaming upon him, 
how can his desires be on earth? Heaven claims him, 
for his treasure and his heart are there, isay, so 
entirely does this death unto sin — for I suppose you 
have found out that is what we mean — take possession 
of the Christian, that, as the Apostle in another place 
expresses it, he is "crucified with Christ." He is not 
only an anxious spectator, he is something more, he is a 
living sacrifice. He has his cross. As Christ died for 
sin, he dies to sin, and they both concpicr by dying. 
A- by the dying of the Saviour, the power of death was 
destroyed, and the world was freed from his dominion, 



234 TIIK CHBI8TIAH8 DEATH, 

so by the dying of the sinner, the principle of evil is 

dethroned, the new heart is gained, and the man 

- *• a new creature in Christ Je 

This is what we imagine the Apostle to mean when lie 

f Christians, "Ye are dead;" and afl it is only 

when we have thus died that we can he truly said to 

live, allow as t<> ask yon it" you are thus dead unto sin 

and alh ' I Eave you realized this death 

on1 or this birth unto righteousness I lias this 

ip, abiding change passed upon yottl Or are you 

.-till living to the world, the of this life your 

bounded pr enjoymenU yonr only 

ardl Examine yourselves, brethren, and may the 

:rit help 

1 1. We pac from the truth of death to the 

truth of life. u \ • r e are d< ad," Apostle, 

a lif( I hal 3 on \\a\ e notwithstanding 
that teeming death "is hid with Christ ba God;" In 
the creation of ( J<»d t: i ms to be nothing abaol 

final ; e\ erything i pal ber in a rudiments 

in which it I i ptive of im-iv 

den ement. !: in 

nata ••-. ] i the earth : years ela] 

: gtll and Bhadow of t: 

luxuriant beauty at OBCe ; 
" there is first the blade, tl ear, after that the full 

n in the ear." And what i.- thua p098ible in the ordi- 
nary pro of nature is capable of spiritual an:. 



LIFKj i'RO . \M> IX'IV. 

Man ends doI in his present condition. The jrery im- 
perfections with which il is fraught, shadow forth a 
mightier being. It would Beem as if glimpses of this 

at truth Bhol across the minds of the sages of ancient 
and Rome. It is interesting to watch their 
minds in their various and continual operations, espe- 
cially when, aa it were, brought out of themselves, to 

them struggling with some great principle just glow- 
ing upon them from the darkness of previous thought, 

lee them catching occasional glimpses of truth in the 
distance, and pressing forward, if haply they might 
comprehend it fully. It must have been in one of those 
very ecstasies that the idea of immortality first dawned 
upon them ; for, after all, crude and imperfect as their 

tiona were, they must be regarded rather as conjec- 
ture than opinion. It was reserved for Christianity, by 
her complete revelations, to bring life and immortality 
to light, to unfold this master-purpose of the Eternal 
Mind, and to give permanence and form to her impres- 
life that dies not. You remember that the 
inspired writers, when speaking about the present stl 
of being, scarcely dignify it with the name of life, com- 
pared with the life to he expected; but they tell us 
ided for us, and awaiting us, a life worthy 
est approbation, and of our most cordial en- 
deavor; I life Bolid, constant, and eternal. This is the 
promise k * which he hath promised us " — as it' there were 
ao other, as if all others were wrapped up in that great 



236 THE ClIltlSTIAN S DKA11I, 

benediction — " this is the promise which he liatli pro- 
sed us, even eternal life ;" and of tliis life they tell us 
that it is "hid with Christ in i » * » cl . * " 

It is hidden, in the first place, in the sense of secrecy ; 

it is concealed, partially developed ; we do nut know 

much abont it. Revelation has no1 been minute in bdr 

loveries of the better land. Enough has bben re- 

v( aled to confirm our confidence and to exalt our faith. 

The outlines of the purpose are sketched out Mere oft, 

bul are withheld. Hence, of the life to come 

the Apostle tells us thai "we know in part* ire we 

through a glass darkly ;" through a pi< iv o£ dnoked 

186 like that through which we look at an eclipse of 

the bud ; our - lis no information concern- 

. for it is beyond their province; reason cannot 

• it baffles her prou ndea\<>rs. Wo 

ma this wisdom i u the 

depth Baith, It is not in me." Imagination may plume 

her fines! pinion, and revel in the ideal magnificei 

Bhe can bring i may BO exalt and ayiplitY 

the images of the life that is, as to picture forth the life 
that will be; it is a hidden life still, for it hath not en- 
d into the heart of man to conceive it ; shadows 
and impervious bang on its approach ; deads and 
darkness arc mund about it.- throne. And we 
equally destitute of information from ex] Kont 

of th<»sc white-robed companies, who have enjoyed this 
life from the beginning, have been commissioned t<> 
explain tons its truths; none of those now venerable 



Lira, pro \m> di i r. 

ones, who hai e travelled the road, who have experienced 

, have returned; they come ao\ full fraught 
with the tidings of eternity to toll t<> the, heedful multi- 
tudes tali-- from beyond the grave. Those dark mid 
gileHl chambers effectually cut off all communication 
between the mortal ami the ({hanged. We may interro- 
the departed, bu1 there is no voice, 
net even Ae echo of our own* We do not complain of 
this sn-ra'v, because we believe it to be a secrecy of 
mercy. The eye of the mind, like the eye of the body, 
was dazzled with excess of light; and if the full reali- 
ties of the life to come were to hurst upon us, we should 
bedazzled into blindness; there would be a wreck of 
, and the balance of the mind's powers would be 
irrecoverably gone. Moreover, we walk by faith, not 
by sight, and a fuller revelation would neutralize some 
the most efficient means for the preservation of 
Spiritual life, and bring anarchy and discord into the 
beautiful arrangements of God. Thus is. this hiding 
benelieial to believers. Yes, and I will go further than 
that : to the sinner it is a secrecy of mercy. Wonder 
not at that. Imagine not that if this vacant area could 
l>e filled to-day with a spirit of perdition, with the 
thunder scar of the Eternal on his brow, and his heart 
writhing under the blasted immortality of hell, then 
surely if he could tell the secrets of his prison-house 
those who are now among the impenitent would be 
aiirighted, and repent and turn. U I tell you nay, for 
if they hear not Mosefl and the prophets neither would 



238 THE CHRISTIAN S DEATH, 

tliey bo persuaded though one were to rise from the 
dead." 

Just another thought here on this head. Especially 
is this life hidden in the & rise of Becrecy 3 in the hour 
and the article of death. An awful change passes upon 
one W€S love, and who has loved the Lord Jesus Christ. 
He looks pale and mi Bee not the glances 

of his eye, we hear nut the music oi' hisvoiee, and as he 
etched breathless in his dumbers, it is very diffi- 
cult to believe that he lead. u But lie is not dead, 
hut ." I an yon credit it, ye moornetof Is 
there no chord in your stricken hearts, ye bereaved 

es, that trembles responsive to the tone, "lie is not 
dead, bn1 sleep th P* His life is with him yet as warm, 
and in days gone by ; only 

it is hidden M with I I in God." We mourn you i 
ye deps s died in the faith, for ye hs 

ored into life. Natural affection hid- us weep, and 
- your tombs the tribute of a tear, hut we dare 
recall you* Xc lii the dying oi live in 

the and blessing of God. Our life is M lrid v\*ith 

Christ in God." 

Ami then it is hidden, secondly, not only in the 
Bense of Becrecy, hut in the Bense of security, laid up, 
treasured up, kept Bafely by the power of Christ. The 
great idea Beems t«> be this : the enemy of God, a lion 
broken loose, is going round the universe in search of 
the Christian's lite, that he may undermine and destroy 
it ; hut he cannot find it ; God has hidden it ; it is hid- 



! I. i\ ri;< ■ n i : 3, and Dl I v. 

den with Christ in God, It is a very uncertain and 
precarious tenure upon which we hold all our po 

bring connected with the present life 
ing; plans formed in oversight and executed in 
dom are, by adverse circumstances, rendered abor- 
tive and fruitl >urds grow for cur Bhade, and we 
under them with delight; the mildew comes, and 
they are withered ; friends twine themselves around 

OUT affections, and as we come to know them well and 
e them, they are sure to die; and upon crumbling 

arch, and ruined wall, and hattlemented height, and 

eheeks all pale that but awhile ago blushed at the 
praise of their own loveliness, old Time has graven in 
the word of the preacher, that there is nothing un- 
changeable in man except his tendency to change. 
But it is a characteristic of the future life, that it is 
that which abideth ; the lapse of time affects not those 
who live eternally; theirs is immortal youth; no ene- 
my, however organized and mighty, can avail to de- 
prive them of it; no opposition, however subtile and 
powerful, can wrest it from him with whom it is secure. 
Where is it hidden? AVith Christ; the safest place in 
the universe, surely, for anything belonging to Christ's 

iple. Where he is, in that land irradiated with his 
presence, and brightening under the sunshine of his 
love; oa that mountain whose sacred inclosure God's 

:y pavilions, and within which there shall in no? 
enter anything that shall hurt or destroy. Whefl 

this hidden i In God, in the great heart of God, who 



240 TI1E CHRISTIAN 6 DEATH, 

is never faithless to his promise, and whose perfections 
are pledged to confer it upon persevering believers. 
Oh, we will not fear. Unbelief may suggest to us its 
thoughts of suspicion and warning; fear may shrink 
hack appalled from a way 60 untried and dangerous ; 
passion may stir our unruly elements in our too carnal 
minds, and presumptuously fight against our faith; our 
.•my may do his best to aggravate into in- 
tenser force the giant war: but we will not fear; our 
life shall be given hidden with Christ in 

L Even now, in the prospect, we feel a j<>y of 
which the world wotteth not — heart-warm, fervent) 

entrancing, a }<>y which we may sutler t«> n>am un- 

cked in it is based upon the 

troth divine. 

III. We . thirdly, to the Christian's prospects. 

" Win : Christ, i . life, shall appear, then shall 

appear with him in gl< ry. M 

iply tw< i : Bret, enjoj menl ; and 

condly, mani >n. 

v imply, first, enjoyment. We observed before, 
that revelation I. a- not been minute in her discoveries 

(rf the better land ; we have the outlines of the purpose 

before us. bul tin- detai ithheld ; and yet enough 

merely to fulfill, bul to exalt onrhigl 
ho] ailitudefl under which the recom] 

I are cannot fail to iill u> with antici- 
pations of the most delightful hind. It is brought be- 
tnember, a.- an inheritance, incorruptible 



LB \\i> mi v. 2 1 1 

a paradise ever vernal and bloomi 
>f all, amid those trees of life there lurks no 
destroy; as a country through who 
all traverse with untired footsteps, and 
&n ih revelation of beauty will augment our 

rid holiness, and joy; as a city wh< 
of jewelry, whose every street is a sun- 
se wall is an immortal bulwark, and wh 
tivspreading Bplendor is the glory of the Lord ; as a 
temple through which gusts of praise arc perpetually 
ig the anthems of undying hosannas; above all, 
our Father's house where Christ is, where our elder 
ther is, making the house ready for the younger 
ones, where all we love is clustered, where the out- 
flow f parental affection thrill and gladden, and 
where the mind is spell-bound, for aye, amid the sweet 
sorceries of an everlasting home. Is there no enjoy- 
ment in images like these ? Does not the very thought 
them make the fleet blood rush the fleeter through 
the And yet these and far more are the pros- 
pects of the Christian : knowledge without the shadow 
rror, and increasing throughout eternity; friend- 
- that never unclasps its hand, or relaxes from its 
; holiness without spot or wrinkle, or any such 
thing; the presence of God in • and imperishable 
>n, combine to make him happy each moment, and 
to make him happy forever. 
Then these words imply manifestation as well as 
»yment. "When Christ, who is our life, shall 

1 1 



242 T nE christian's pkatii, 

appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." 
The world say-: M Foil talk about your life being hid* 
don ; the fact is, it is lost ; it is only a of y<'ii: 

Bay it ie hidden/' Lut it is not lost, it is only hidden ; 
and when Christ, who has it, shall appear, "then shall 
ye also appear," to the discomfiture of b and t» 

the adniir;;' all them that believe ; k ' then shall ye 

also appear with him in glory. The worldling looks at 
Christie . and, in some of his reflective moods, he 

at differ tween them, but it is & diffe- 

rence he can hardly onderstand. With his usual Bbort* 

. and an i t H his usual self-complacency, he 

im;: > be altogether upon his own 

man, and judj 
gpnent Perhaps he glj I his garments* 

and tl d homely, and he 

turns awa; ain. A b I he knows not 

that beneath thai ; s a print 

Wait b while ; bid • time ; stop until | 

ma: I Jod. With what diU'rrcnt 

ill earth's d( - be regarded at the 

bar of judgment and before the throne divine! EEow 

will tl. ar when they are confessed, recognised, 

y when he is ashamed of the wicked, 

hell beneath and the hell within will 
make them themselves I i% Beloved, 3 

rejoicii . " now are wo the sons of I tad ;" 

that ifl Something, that is no mean gift, tliat is no small 

t, to have thai in hand; "now are we the 



i.ii \\h DUTT. 

u Salvation, " it [fl as if the Apostle had 
Bmall tl ing, b thing unworthy of < lod ;" il 
mall thing to take a captive oul of a dungeon, and 
tim him loose upon the cold world's cruel scorn; il 
rand thing to take a captive oul of a dungeon, and 
him on a throne; and that is done with all th< 
who believe on Jesus: being justified by faith, they 
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
M And if children' 3 (for they have received the adop- 
tion of • then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-h< 
With Christ." Oh! salvation is not to be named in con- 
nection with the grand, the august, the stately splendor, 
the BOnship, which is given unto those who put their 
trust in Christ. " Beloved, now are Ave the sons of 
( rod ; but it doth not yet appear what we shall he ;" so 
transcendent, so surpassing is the recompense, that we 
cannot conceive it now; " it cloth not yet appear what 
we shall be ;" it doth not yet appear even to ourselves ; 
\\v shall be as much astonished at the splendor of the 
Recompense as any one beside. Oh! when we are 
launched into the boundless, when the attentive ear 
catches the first tones of heaven's melody, when there 
burst upon the dazzled eye the earliest glimpse of 
beatific vision, how shall we be ready almost to doubt 
our own identity — "Ifl this I? It cannot be the same. 
Efi this the soul that was racked with anxiety and 
dimmed with prejudice, and stained with sin I Is this 
the bouI whose ivvvy passion waa its tempter, and that 
was harassed with an all-absorbing fear of never reach- 



*2±± THE CHRISTIAN 6 DEATH, 

ing heaven? Why, not an enemy molests it now; not 
a throb shoots across it now ; those waters that used to 
look so angry and so boisterous, how peacefully they 
ripple upon the everlasting shore; and this body, once 
BO trail and BO mortal, is it, can it be, the same]) Why* 
the eye dims not nowj the cheek is never blanche^ 
with sudden pain ; the fingers are not awkward now; 
but, without a I strike the harp of gold, and 

transmit along the of eternity the song pf Mo 

and the Lamb. This i Bay; nut, we 

hope, unwarranted; but even now, dark as our glimj 

unworthy as our conceptions are of the promised 
recomp . :a!l us into the poet's 

tasy, wl own privilege, he 



. 



With pity w< I >k down; 

, in virtu [rtb, 

IV. And now, tin . - : ady for the duty, I 
am sure, "Foryour life is hid with Christ in (Jock 
Win ii istj who is our life, shall appear, then shall 
ye also appear with him i ; ," «Se1 your affection 

on tliii._ I >h, how Bolemnlj it comes, with all 

:' privil* je to back it ! It 
Bilences th< ion urged, it overrides . ; ii is 

emphatic and . and to the Christian resist] 

"Set your affecl q things I hristiao 

to b( gainfulness of the world, or fa 



24 o 

bated I , is al once b grievous infatuation 

if a prince of high estate and regal 

re I" demean himself in t he haunts of b 

' dignity and imperilling the honor of 
his crown. Wliat have you, the blood-royal of heaven, 
to do with tliis vain and fleeting show I Arise, depart ; 
this is not your rest; it is polluted. And yel how 
ny of you have need of the exhortation this morning, 
11 Set your affections on things above V* Have you 
— now let the spiri! of searching come unto you — have 
you not, by your cupidity, avarice, and huckstering lust 
of gain, distanced the world's devotees in what they 
had been accustomed to consider their own peculiar 
walk) Have you not trodden so near the line of 
: between professor and profane, that you 
have almost trodden on it, and almost trodden it out J 
Have you not, Btrangely enamored of visions of distant 
joy, postponed as uninfluential and unworthy, the joy 
that abideth, or, like the man in the allegory, raked up 
with a perseverance that in aught else might have been 
laudable, the Btraws beneath your feet, while above 
your head there glittered the diadem of glory! Oh, 
awake! arise! this is not your rest; it is polluted. 
u Bet v"i;r affections on things above, and hot on things 
Ota the earth." [f riches be your po« , be thank- 

ful for them; do all the good with them you can; if 
friends make music in your dwelling, regard them as 
d upon life, and by and by to drop 

.cay. Seek for bags that wax not old, friends 



246 TUL: OHEISTIAMfl MATH, 

that neither ^veeD nor change in the onintermittiDg 
reunions of heaven's own glory. 

How does this prospect of glory breathe em 
ment to the soul in the .-ad Beason of bereavement ! 
'•He that believeth in Jesus" — this is the promise — 
•• though he were dead, yet >hall he live, and whoeoevt c 
livetli and betteveth on J( ana -hall never die." Still 
Bounds that groat ntterance of the Master running alpng 
the whole line of being, heard over the graves o£ the 
Loved, amid rustling Leaf and fading flower, and withers 

Lng . . . " He that liveth and helieveth 

in , ! ball nev< r die." ( Orphan, 1 

Widow, from whom the d 3 has been 

D away with Ah! 

g I the 

I v. e Would . 
bring them bac - r them the 

hallowed ]»a-a!i : 

Joy fur 

Tin 

Thy 

Thou art go:.' 

1'. il we ean Listen to the voice which they find time to 
whisper to us in some of ti the music : a Be 

therefore followers of as who now, through faith and 
patience, are inheriting the pro 



1.11 ■ ; , i g I V 

io of jrou bave doI got, perhaps, to the realization 

this promise yet There is a misgiving within ; there 

is a yet an between your Maker and 

yourself. You bave not Been Jesus; yon have not 

heard the pardoning voice or felt the power of the re- 

ciling plan, oh, come to Christ, To-day the Holy 

pit of Christ is hero, waiting to take of the precious 

tin: Christ, and to Bhowthem unto you; waiting 

this morning to do honor to Jesus. Hallow the con 

don of this house by the consecration of the living 
temple of your hearts. God is no longer the unknown 
1, t.) be viewed with servile apprehension, or fol- 
lowed with slavish dread; lie is God in Christ, recon- 
ciling the world unto himself. Redemption is no longer 
a theorem to he demonstrated, a problem to be solved, 
a riddle to be guessed by the wayward and the wander- 
in--; it is the great fact of the universe that Jesus Christ 
hath, by the grace of God, tasted death once for every 
man. Mercy is no longer a fitful and capricious exer- 
leiice; it is the very power, and justice, 
and truth of God. A just God: look that out in the 
jpel dictionary, and you will find it means a Saviour. 
Heaven is no longer a fortress to be besieged, a city to 
be ' high, impregnable elevation to be sealed; 

it is the grand metropolis of the universe, to which the 
King, in his bounty, has thrown up a royal high-road 
for his people, even through the blood of his Son. Oh, 
come to Jesus with full surrender of heart, and all th< 
shall be yours. Some do not hold this Ian- 



348 

guage ; they belong to this world, and are not ashamed 

to confess it "Bring fresh garlands: let the Bone be 

\ine and of beauty ; build fresh and greater hams, 

where I may bestow my fruits and goods," But then 

leth the end. "The rich man died and was buried, 

and in hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment; and 

th Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom; he 

only prayer that I know of, the 

whole Bible through, to a saint or angel, and that by a 

damned spirit, and never answered — "1 pray tl 

Abraham, that tlnm wouldst Bend Lazarus that 

In' may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my 

tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. 13 Listen to it, 

g of the lost worldling in hell. WTio will sfel it 

: V, ming for it now I Sinner, 

is it thine 1 I- it thine 1 Don't put thai question away; 

iencea in the Bifflil of 
:. and then i :it of all your Bins, flee for re- 

fuge to the hope that is laid before yon in the Gospel, 
trusting in and child-like reliance upon Christ 

Only 1 . and yours Bhall be the heritage in the 

world to come. 



X. 
Tin: APOSTLE'S <;K<>r\'l> OF TRUBT. 

M B .: v.: gain to me, those I counted Lost for Christ. 

•nit all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whom I have Buffered the ' 

and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." — 
Pbtlippians iii. 7, N . 

There can be no sense of bondage in the sonl when 
the tongue utters words like these. Albeit they flow 
m the lips of a prisoner, they have the true ring of 
the inner freedom, of the freedom which cannot be 
cribbed in dungeons. They are the expressions of a 
fjor-sighted trust which yields to no adverse circum- 
3, which endures, as seeing him who is invisible, 
in the confidence of quiet power. There was a very 
der relationship subsisting between Paul and the 
Philippian Church. They had sent Epaphroditns to 
nsit him in his prison at Rome, to bear him their sym- 
pathies, and to administer their liberality, in his hour 
1; and in return for their kindness, and as a 
token of Ins unfailing love, he addressed them this 
narkable thai it contains no solitary 

buke, that it recognizes in them the exist- 

1 1 • 



250 TIIE APOSTLE'S GROUND OF TRUST. 

ence of a grateful and earnest piety, and that it aims 
throughout at their consolation and encouragement. 
In the commencement of the present chapter he warns 
them against certain Judaizing teachers, who would 

fain have recalled them to the oldne88 of the letter, and 

who made the commandments of God of none effect by 
their tradition. "Beware of dogs, beware of evil- 
workers, beware of the & ." He tells them that 

the true s*ed of Abraham, the royal heritors of the 
nt, are tl ho worship Qod in the spirit, and 

rejoice in Christ 3 1 have nfidence in the 

flesh. He pro to remind them that if there w< 

tood upon a vanta 

I of admitted buj " Hiongh I might 

in the flesh. If any other man 

thinketh that ' of he i rust in the 

b, 1 • • : Ci , tock 

of ! >f the tribe of 1 1 an I [ebrew of the 

I [< brdT : ing the law, a 1 1 concerning 

the Church ; touching the righteo 

. blameless.' 1 But, patting all 
thifi ouncing th( 

nal and delush sublime reliance upon 

( rds the noble declaration of the text, 

timony own faith and the 

perpetual * % Bill what things v. 

gain to me, those 1 counted loss for ( , doubt- 

less, and I count all things but loss for the excellei 
of the I of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom 



Tin; APOSTLE'S BBOUHB Of TBI 25 i 

I ha\ o suffered the lose of all things, and do count th< 
but dung, that I may win Christ" We can concei 
pf do testimony better calculated than this to cheer the 
timid, or to confirm the wavering, to Bilence the mis- 
i of the doubtful, or cause the inquiring soul to 
r joy. All the conditions which we can possibly 
desire in order to render testimony accredited and valu- 
able, arc to be found here. It is not the utterance of a 
man of weak mind, infirm of purpose and irresolute in 
action, whose adhesion would damage rather than fur- 
ther any cause he might espouse. It is Paul, the Apos- 
tle, who speaks, the sharp-witted Btudent of Gamaliel, 
a match for the proudest Epicurean, versed in scholastic 
subtilties and in all the poetry and philosophy of the 
day, with a mental glance keen as lightning, and a 
mental grasp strong as steel. It is not the utterance 
of youth, impassioned and, therefore, hasty; sanguine 
of imagined good, and pouring out its prodigal applause. 
It is Paul, the man, who speaks, with ripened wisdom 
en his brow, and gathering around him the experience 
of years. It is not the utterance of the man of heredi- 
tary belief, bound in the fetters of the past, strong in 
the sanctities of early education, who has imbibed a 
traditional and unintelligent attachment to the pi'' 
of his fathers. It is Paul, the some-time persecul P, 
i Bpeaks, the noble quarry which the arrow.- of the 

Almighty Btruck down when .-oaring in it.- pride. It is 
lie who now rests tenderly upon the cause which he 90 

lately labored to destroy, It is not, finally, the utter- 



252 TH E APOSTLE S GROUND OF TKl 

ance of inexperience, which, awed by the abiding im- 
pression of one supernatural event, and having briefly 
realized new I id new joys, pronounces prema- 

turely a in tl which it would afterward revel 

It is Paul, tlie aged, who speaks, who is not ignorant 
of what he Bay* and win i doth affirm, who has 

rejoiced in the excellent knowledge through all the 

a veteran's life; alike amid the Daisg 
ings of a Church daw to believe his conversion, and 
ipation and of his joun like 

win worshipped and tin • d :tt Lyefcra, in the 

pric Philippi, and in i!i« i Areopagus at Athens; 

alike when in the early council it - d him, 

"bora "lit of due time," to withstand to the faee of 
P< ter, the elder A ; o tie, to be Wan 

to almost womanly ten op 

d him for the lu- 1 

breaking of that ell; alike when buffeting 

the wintry blasts of the Ad.- ud when standing 

i and Bolitary before the bar of Nn-<». Ii 

ii he of B who ba8 tried it under 

i vnv i of mortal lot, who, 

■. that his eye has lost its early fire, and the spring 

mmei s from him, enial glow 

in the kindly winter of h' Where can we find 

timony mare conclusive and valuable! Bear it. 

era'. who WOlUd dastardly tor.-wear I 

and Lei it shame yon u I istian manhood I Bear it, 
braised and tei ale, that dare hardly venture 



THE IP -hi. B <-i: HJKD 01 i in | 

(kith 01 Jesus, and catching inspiration and c<>ii! 

from it, lot your \ oices be heard : 

M IIet.ee, and forever from my heart, 
I bid my doubts and fears depart, 
And to those hands my bouI resign, 
Which bear credentials bo divine." 

In the further exhibition of this passage to-night, we 
ought to refer, in the first place, to the Apostle's insuf- 
ficient grounds of trust, and secondly, to the compen- 
sating power of the excellency of the knowledge of 

Christ. I greatly fear, however, that the first part 
of the subject will be all that I can manage to compass 
within the time allotted for this evening's service. 
Our remarks will, therefore, mainly dwell upon the 
rands of trust which the Apostle here repudiates: 
M What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for 
Ohrist." 

There is something remarkable in the way in which 
the Apostle refers to the past, and the respectful manner 
in which he speaks of the faith of his fathers, and of his 
youth. It is often a sign rather of servility than of 
independence when men vilify their former selves. 
The Apostle had not renounced Judaism in any moment 
of passion, nor in any prejudice of novelty. Strong con- 
- had forced him out of his old belief. He had 
emerged into a faith purer and more satisfying far. 
]» 11 there were memories connected with the fulfilled 
i nation which he would not willingly let die. 



254 the atostle's ground of trust. 

There were phases of his own inner life there. For loni^ 
years, Judaism had been to him his only interpreter of 
the divine, the only thing which met a religious 
instinct, active "beyond that of ordinary men. The 
grounds of trust which he now found to be insufficient, 
had been the halting-places of his soul in its progress 
from the delusive t«> the abiding, from the shadowy t<> 
the true. 1I«' oould not forget that there hug aw mud 

the I ho had abandoned, an ancient and tra- 

ditional glow: it was of I own architecture; the 

patten and it- monial had been given by 

himself in the Mount; all it- furniture spoke of him in 
Bensnous manifestatioD and magnificent appeal* His 
ath had quivered upon the lij • prophets, and 

had lashed their Bacred fr< I [e was 

in it- temple service, and in its holy of holies; amid 
Bhapes <•!' heavenly Bculpture, the light of hi 

I in merciful repose. Eow could the Apostle 
a— ail it with wantou outrage or flippant 
True, it had fulfilled i ion, and now that the ; 

of spirituality and power had come, it was no longer 
needed ; but the halo was yet upon its brow, and like 
the light which lingers above the horizon long after the 
Betting of the .-nn, there shone about it a dim but 
heavenly splendor. While, however, the Apostle v 
not slow to confess that there was glory in that which 
wa done away, he wa> equally hold in affirming 

its absolute worthlessness in comparison with the yel 
greater glory of that which remained. M Whal thh 



i n w -hi 'a moi rd oi nti i. 

were gain to me, those I counted Lose for Christ." It 

will be found, I think, to l"' remarkable in the review 
of the grounds of trust, which the A.postle bere repu- 
diates, how much their is kindred to them in the 
aspects of modern faith, and how multitudes now cling 
ko them with tenacity, and hope to find in them their 
presenl and eternal gain. Lei us remind you, then, for 
i few moments, of the catalogue of trusts which the 
title tried and repudiated. 
The first thing he mentions, is sacramental efficacy. 
- Circumcised on the eighth day/' lie names cireum- 
'"ii first, because it was the early and indispensable 
rament of the Jewish people, the seal of the 
Mosaic covenant, the distinguishing badge of the 
[sraelites from all other nations of mankind. Moreover, 
he tells US he had the advantage of early initiation: 
" Circumcised the eighth day." The Gentile proselytes 
could, of course, only observe the rite at the period of 
conversion, which might be in manhood or in age. But 
Paid was hallowed from his youth, from the eighth day 
of his life introduced into the federal arrangement, and 
lemnly consecrated to the service of the Lord. He 
was not insensible to this external advantage, but he 
does n<>t hesitate to proclaimit worthless as a ground 
§£ acceptance with God. There are multitudes by 
trhom baptism is regarded in the same reverent lighl 
was circumcision by the Jews of old. It' they do not 

absolutely rejoice in it, as the manner of some is, a> the 

instrument of their regeneration, at least they have a 



256 THE APOSTLES GROUND OF TRUST. 

vague notion of a benefit which they deem it to have 
conferred, and are living on the unexhausted credit of 
their parents' faith and prayer. If, in adult age, they 
make any | :u it is by partaking of the 

Eucharist, whose elements they invest with ipystic and 
transforming power. There is no inward change in 
them. They are conscious of no pain-taking and daily 
gle with corruption. They have no conflict for a 
mast er eviL Nopercptible improvement pa 

upon their Conduct and habits from their periodical 

connnions. Andy< Lutely, their only hope for 

the future. from the grace of the baptismal font, 

I from tiie efficacy of the Bacramental table; for they 
persuade ' : belief that as by the ordi- 

nance of baptism then mysterious conveyance Lo 

them of the tit!. an inhei by the 

excellent mysl the Lord's Supper, they are as 

tplicablj ripened into meetness for ion, 

Brethren, we would nol under-value the ordinances of 
God's appointing. We are not insensible to the benefit 
when believing parents dedicate their offspring unto 
God, when the hand of parental faith rests upon the ark 
of the covenant, and claims that there should he .-lied 
out upon the little ones the .spiritual influences of the 
Eoly Ghost Chiefest among our religious memo;-' 
treasured in the soul with a delight which is almost awe, 
e holy communions, when — the life 
infused into the bread, the power into the wine— -Christ 

\ been evidently sit forth before his grateful wor- 



THE A.P0BTL1 8 QROI ND 01 PB1 

•g, and strong consolations have trooped Dp to the 

ivenly festival. Bui it must nol be forgotten thai all 
of ordinances, all the beatific and inspiring 
Is which flow through divinely appointed ser- 
viced, are nol in the services themselves, bill in the 
of the loving Saviour, the anointed one in the 

ion of Zcchariah, without whom and without wh< 
Spirit they could have neither efficacy nor power. 
Precious as are the collateral benefits of baptism, and 
hallowing as are the strength and blessing of the Holy 
Eucharist, we do solemnly proclaim them worthless as 
grounds of acceptance before God. Hear it, ye bap- 
tized, hut unbelieving members of our congregation! 
Eear it. ye devout and earnest communicants! Sacra- 
ments have no atoning virtue, no value at all except as 
avenue- to lead the soul to Christ ; and if, in a trust 
like this, you pass your lives, and if, in the exercise of a 
trust like this, you die, for you there can remain no- 
thing hut the agonizing wakening from a deception that 
will have outlasted life, and the cry wailed from the 
ontside of a door, forever barred, "We were early dedi- 

vd unto thee ! were accounted as thy followers ; we 
have eaten and drank in thy presence ; Lord, Lord, 
open unto us." That is the first ground of trust which 
the Apostle here disclaims. 

Passing on in the catalogue, we find that the second 
repudiated confidence is an honored parentage, "Of the 
stork <>f Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of 
the Hebrews.' 3 To have been circumcised the eighth 



mi. Ai'.> >TLBfl OKOUND OF tki 

<Iav, proved that he had been born of parents professing 
the Jewish faith; bat, inasmuch as the Gentile pw>€ 

rved the rites of circumcision, it? did doI 

prove that he had been descended of the family erf 

LsraeL He, tl , shows that in purity of lineal 

t, in all those hereditary honors upon which men 

dwell with pride, he could l><.a>t with the proudest of 

them all. lie \ k i f Israel. Ihit ten of 

I from their allegiance to Jehovah, 

had by their vires, had entered 

into ship with surrounding Ldola* 

I [e, then 'hem further, that he was 

of the tribe of I'- njainin ; ill it bad 

rious, 1m 
. intained purity of 
Divine worship, and held itself faithful among the 
fait! M' rcoi er, be had not b< 

into ti jhip by personal 

adoption nor by ti d of his Gathers. Tb< 

had been in hi nterman . he 

"a He] I Lebn 1 1 is genealo 

pure on both ' in his 

arm-. He itor of the adoption, and 

i u BS much in all 

this «»n which in those times the Apostle mighl haw 
dwell with pride; men, generally vaunt those bon< 
w liich are theirs by birth. 

!t w nrely, then, t<> belong to nobi- 

lity that could trace its far descent from the worthi 



TBI &P08TLK8 QROUNO OF TRUST. 

of the older world, to have for his ancestors tho e 
Dinted and holy patriarchs who trod the young earth 
when onwrinkled by Borrow, undimmed by crime, 
untouched by the wizard wand of time; to have in his 
as the same blood that marched proudly over the 
fallen rampart.- of Jericho, or thai bade the affrighted 
Miu stand still at Gibeon, or that quailed beneath the 
dread thunders of the mount that burned. And yet all 
thil accumulated pride of ancestral lienor the Apostle 
counted " loss for Christ.'' That the Jews prided them- 
selves on their descent from Abraham, you may gather 
from many passages of Scripture. You remember 
when our Saviour was conversing with them on the 
inner freedom, he was rudely interrupted with the 
words. " We be Abraham's children ; we were never in 
bondage to any man." And that they regarded this 
descent from Abraham as in some sort a passport to 
von, we may gather from the Saviour's rebuke: 
" Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham 
to our father, for I say unto you, that of these stones 
God is able to raise up children unto Abraham." And 
there are multitudes now, brethren, who have no better 
hope than this. There are many in this land of ours 
who are stifling the misgivings of conscience, and the 
convictions of the Holy Spirit, with the foolish thought 
that they have been born in a Christian country, sur- 
rounded with an atmosphere of privilege, or are the 
SOUS " of parents passed into the >kies." 

Look at that holy patriarch, forsaken of kindred, 



260 TI1K APOSTLES GROUND OF TKl 

bankrupt in property, and Blandered in reputation, 
u Afflicted grievously and tempted sore," and yet hold- 
ing an integrity as fast in his sackcloth as over he did 
in his pur] | i amid terrible reverses blessing the 
Inesfl which bnt claimed the gift it gave! Mark 
honorable counsellor, pious amid c ate, 

and pomps, and pleasure, walking with God aniid the 
tumult and luxury of Babylon, and from the compa- 
cting to his chamber tliat had 
open toward Jerusalem ! I > that preachelr 

- now with diortation, and 

now with blam to the whole world, 

and warns it of I ming doom, and then, safe in the 
beaven-ehul ari the billows of ruin to a 

mount "i* - W'liat subli rist- 

.d piety are here ! £ , if a parent's faith 

anything, it w ill be in the families 
of Noa] , 1 1 Jobl 

NTow, listen — list who resl on traditional faith, 

ye who are making a raft of your parents' piety to float 
you over the d water into church fellowship 

here, and b oly fellowship hereafter — listen feb 

the solemn admonition: "Though these three nan, 
Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live they should 
deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith 

Lord ( tod.* randson of M< 

an idolafrous priest; it' the children of Samuel p 
verted judgment and took bribes; if David, the man 
after God's own heart, mourned in hopeless agony over 



'i in aiv ; i ; mi i .| ntU8T« QQ j 

Absalom dead ! bow Bad the witness thai religion is not 
i hereditary p< >n ! bow appalling the dang< r 

you, children of pious parents, nursed in the lap and 
surrounded with the atmosphere <>f godliness, Bhould 
pass down into a heritage of wrath and sorrow, aggra- 

bed into intenser hell foryou by the remembrance 
of the piety of your fathers ! Thai is the second ground 
of trust which the Apostle disclaims. 

Passing on in the catalogue, we find that the next 
repudiated confidence is religions authority. " As 
touching the law, a Pharisee. " This was not the first 
time the Apostle had made this affirmation. You 
remember that before the tribunal of the high priest, 
he affirmed, with a not unholy pride, "I am a Pharisee, 
the son of a Pharisee." And, at Agrippa's judgment- 

t, he appealed even to the infuriated Jews whether 
he had not, according to the straightest seet of their 
religion, lived a Pharisee. And, indeed, there was 
much in those early times which an honest Pharisee 
might be excused for counting gain. The word has got 
in our days, to be regarded as a sort of synonym for all 
that is hypocritical and crafty ; but a Pharisee in the 
Jewish times, an honest, earnest Pharisee, was a man 
not to be despised. In an age of prevailing indiffe- 
rence, the Pharisee rallied around him all the godly, 
religious spirit of the time. In an age of prevailing 
skepticism, the Pharisee protested nobly against the 
free-thinking Sadducee, and against the courtly Eerod- 
hm. In an age of prevailing laxity, the Pharisee incul- 



202 the apostle's ground of trust. 

cated, by precept at all events, austerity of morals and 
sanctity of life. There might be ostentation in Lis 
broad phylacteries; at all events, it showed he was not 
ashamed of the texts which he had traced out upon 
the parchment A love of display might prompt the 
superb decorations with which he gilded the tombs 
of the prophets; at all events, and that is no Binall 

virtue, lie had not ceased to honor the memory of 

righteousness. There might he self-glory in his fa 
idly observed, and in his tithes, paid to the uttern 
farthing; at all events, there was recognition of the 
maj lience t«> the letter of the law. I 

repeal it, in those early times there was mnch which 
an honest Pharisee might be excused lor counting grain. 
Bu1 this als i i 1 - Apostle "counted loss for Christ." 

are multitudes now, I need not remind von, 
wh< their orthodoxy, whose zeal is their par- 

aship, whose munition of rocks is their union with 
people of God. There is Bome danger, believe me, 
lesl even the tender and hallowed associations of the 
Church should weaken the Bense of individual respon- 
sibility. We are apt to imagine, amid (fee round of 
decorous externalisms, when the Banctuary is attractive 
and the minister approved, when there is peace in I 
borcl d wealth in the treasury, when numbers do 

not diminish, and all that is conventionally excellent 

i, that our own piety musl n< ily Bhine in the 

lustre of the mass, that we are Bpiritually healthy, and 
need neither counsel nor warninxr. 



'in: i OF i ELI 

The Church to which we belong, perhaps, has " a 

bo live;" ami we imagine thai the life of the 

i(o must, in some mysterious manner, imply the 

life of the individual. Ami though our conscience re- 

ch us Bometimes, and though we are frivolous in 

our practice, and censorious in our judgmenl of others, 

I though, in our struggle with evil, the issue Is some- 
times compromise and sometimes defeat, although at- 
tendances at religious ordinances, an occasional and 
Stifled emotion under a sermon, a spasm of convulsive 

ivity, a hurried and heartless prayer, are really the 
-whole of our religion — we are sitting in our sealed 
houses, we pass among our fellows for reputable and 
painstaking Christians, and are dreaming that a joyous 
int ranee will be ministered to us abundantly at last. 
O, for thunder-pealing words to crash over the souls 
pf formal and careless professors of religion, and startle 
them into the life of God ! I do solemnly believe that 
there are thousands in our congregations, in different 
- of the land, who arc thus dead while they are 
ling to live ; and with all fidelity I would warn you 
of your danger. It is a ghastly sight when the flowers 
of religious profession trick out a mortal corpse. It is 
a -ad entombment when the church or chapel is the 
vault of the coffined spirit, "dead in trespasses and 
." That is the third ground of trust which the 
A] ".-ile here disclaims. 

Passing On in the catalogue, we find that the fourth 

repudiated confidence is inter . "Concern- 



; J Till: ArOSTLE's GROUND OF TBI 

ing zeal, persecuting the Church." There was nmcli in 
this that would awake a n ve chord in the heart 

of a bigoted Jew. The Apostle tells ns he was present 
at the martyrdom of Stephen; and in his zeal far the 
repression of what lie deemed to be a profane mystery 3 
he made havoc of the Church, breathed out threaten- 
in--.- and slaughter, and persecuted unto the death. 

1 I • , indeed, did the Bad memory press upon him in 

ing him to contrition and tears* M I 
am less than t 1 the apostles, that am not meet 

to be called an e I persecuted the Church 

of ( • "■:." Stable evidence in all 

tld- seal for the Jewish faith, thai he did not hold 

the truth in unrighteous indolence, bul thai he exerted 
himself omulgation; that devotion with him 

I a surfi \ QOr an cdncath »nal nc 

..-. in the Btrong hand of its 
]"• : his nature, and infibered with the 

.1. And there was much in all 

i him * ustomed to regard 

: but t] • emed u as Loss for Christ." 

I know no j the world, brethren, when claim for 

tract zeal, would be d i 
readily conceded than in the age in which we live, 
Ean god of I rei erence. Hen 

do i tini e too closely the characters of the hen 

they worship. Mad ambition may guide the desp< 
hand; brain may be fired with dart schemes of tyranny; 
man m nled infidel, or a vile tedticer; 



I il 

he may bo n poel Btained with licentiou i war- 

1 w ith blood ; lei him be bui earnest, and 

thr r bim in the modem Pantheon. A ad, 

H la ;i:i i >od principle thai the character of the 

wonhi] issimilates to the beings they worship, the 

derotees have copied their idols, and this is an earnest 
age. The trade spirit is in earnest ; bear witness, those 
of you who have felt its pressure. Hence the unpre- 
cedented competitions of bnsi j the gambling, 
which would rather leap into wealth by speculation, 

D achieve it by industry ; hence the intense, the un- 
flagging, indomitable, almost universal greed of gain. 
Men are earnest in the pursuit of knowledge. The 
press teems with cheap, and not always wholesome, 
literature. Science is no longer the heritage of the 
illuminati, hut of the masses. The common mind has 
become voracious in its appetite to know ; and a cry 
gone up from the people which cannot be disre- 
garded, "Give us knowledge, or else we die." It is 
manifest in all departments and in every walk of life. 
Men live faster than they used to do. In politics, in 

nee, in pleasure, he is, he must be earnest who suc- 
ceeds. He must speak loudly and earnestly who would 
win the heedful multitudes to listen. Such is the im- 
pel:; .' the time, that the timid and the vacillating 
find no foothold on the pavement of life, and are every 
moment in peril of being overborne and jostled aside, 
trampled down beneath the rude waves of the rushing 

and earnest crowd. 

12 



THE AP06TLS8 GROUND OF TRUST. 

"While sucli general homage is paid to earnestness, 
what wonder if Bome people should mistake it for relit 
if a man should imagine that, becanta he is 
loufl in the activitiee tevolence, warmly attached 

to certain church organizations, and in some measure 
sympathetic with [ritual forces which they em- 

body, he ifl really a partaker of the nndefilod roligioii o£ 
the 13i go farther than this. The 

te who need it— the 

ith whic 
Uy meml I 

matter 93 within them — i'. v with which 

talk al •• | hut un- 

d adjeu I ten Ifl very gmflfy 

error. ( lasei throng nptm 

I we think open the 

Th ill — he I ed faith :it all in the 

Upon ;i 

of doubl and dark : •• er learning, yet newr 
able t<» c the truth/' He may 

tH] he die-. Dllt wh: 1 ho 

tolerant spirit of the agel * Ee is an earned think. t, 

let hini | no faith in tin- Bible*] he bai no 

tfledj and indi-outahhs hut 

. : [though life may 
frittered away e boly deed to eonoble it, if 

lie live Long ( QOIlgh, he Will grope hifl way into convic- 
tion by and by.* 



tii; { m» Of i ki 267 

There is another man ; he is aot all we would wish 
him Do be; he if (infrequent and irregular in attendance 
upon the ordinances of Gfod'a house; he is nol a] 
quite spiritual! y-minded ; we Bhonld like to see him 
ton grasping in his bargains; but lie is an earnest 
woricCTj a eealons partisan, an active committee-man, 
Had we hope all will be right with him in the end. 

There is another man, and more chivalrous in his 
ben>c q£ honor; he is known to hold opinions that are 
dangerous, if not positively fatal, upon some vital sub- 
jects of Christian truth. ]>ut he is an amiable man ; he 
is very kind to the poor; he has projected several 
measures of amelioration for their benefit; the widow 
blesses him when she hears his name. lie is an earnest 
philanthropist; and, thus sheltered in the shadow of 
.lis benevolence, his errors pass unchallenged, and have 
a wider scope for mischief than before. 

I do solemnly believe that there are men who are 
c.niirmed in their infidelity to Christianity by the tri- 
bute thus paid to their zeal. It may be that some in- 
fatuated self-deceivers pass out of existence with a lie in 
their right hand, because earnestness, like charity, has 
n made to " cover a multitude of sins." Since there 
is this danger, it is instructive to find out what is the 
Apostle's opinion of mere earnestness. It may be a good 
thing — there can be no doubt of that— when it springs 
from prompting faith, and constraining love, and when 
the object on behalf of which it ex< rts ita i q< rgi< 
intrinsically excellent It is a noble thing; we cannot 



TDK APoSTLK 7 S GROUND OF TEl 

do -without it; it La at once the pledge of sincerity and 
an augury of success. It may be a good thing, Lut it 
may be a blasphemy; just the muscle in the arm of a 
madman, that nen frantic hand to scatter iiiv- 

brands, and arrows, and death; but do not dpceive 

m 

Divers gifts may have been imparted to y<»u; \vu 
may haw discrimination of the abstruse and the pro- 
found; the widow may bless your footsteps, and the 
orphan's In-art may sing for joy at your approach; the 
Lustre ofexl benevolence may be Bhed ove? yfur 

character; opinions may have rooted themselves so 
firmly in your nature that you are ready to Buffer loss 
in their behalf and to oovel martyrdom in their atte 
tion, giving your body to be burned. But, with all I 
earn Lisputably earnest as y< if you have 

charity, diviner Car— if yon have nol "faith that 
works by love i ad purifies the heart meat, indis- 

putably earnest h profiteth you nothing; 

idence will fail 3 ou in the hour pf trial ; its 
root . blossom will j b dust 

Thai is • and of trust that the Apostle here 

'1 • 1 ' . 1 finally. Th ■ uexl ground of tm 
emonial blamelessness, "Touchingthe righteousn 
which isi , blameless." The Apostle's zeal \'<>v 

the J< d more influential by the 

purity of his life. There are some w\ ;il is but a 

cloak for licentiousness, and who shamefully violate, in 



daily practice, the rescripts of the religion for whi 

\ contend. Bnl the A^postle was no! one of those im- 
pious fanatics; ho had been in sincerity and truth a 
i rigid and inflexible in his adhesion to the laws 
of Hoses thai lie v imed a pattern, and rejoi 

in as a pillar of the truth. Not thai before God the 
ittosl devout Pharisee had any thing whereof to glory, 
lun that, in the eyes of men, who judge in Bhort-sighted- 
tnd who judge in error, he passed for a reputable 
and blameless man. And this, also, the most ordinary, 
the most wide-spread ground of false confidence, tin.' 
Apostle counted " loss for Christ." 

I need not remind you, I am sure, how deep in the 
heart of man, resisting every attempt to dislodge it, 
an - lurks and broods : and how men come 
to regard themselves, in the absence of atrocious crime, 
and in the presence of much that is humanizing and 
kindly, as ripening for the kingdom of heaven. And 
it is no marvel — I do not think it one jot of a 
marvel — if we consider what the usages of society are, 
and the verdicts it passes on the virtues and vices of the 

absent: 

There is a tribunal out among men that never 
, and that is always estimati 
thei 3 by themselves, and comparing themseh 

an: o : not wise. From acting 

jud >me of these arbitration cas< tracter, by 

\wj: as an arbiter himself, the man comes to know 
the standard of the world's estimation, and how it i^ 



270 TBM JlFOSTLBI i Of Ntl 

that it comes to its decisi ad, in some re:' 

mood, possibly, he tries himself by it, and, looking 
down below him, I beneath him in the scale, 

the outc Ifish, the perfidious, the tasmplpr 

worldly , and the BcandaLondy sinfuL 

And then he lool 

walk throng 1 with the welcome of many 

, that tne passes unchallenged, 

bed for i , Then he looks into 

vibrating to eh ery chord 

of e thy; fri< troop around him with proud 

- j children % * climb hi a, the envied : 

to Bhaxi 
It i , if a n.. mob 

that tin* good* 

inch has 1 • on 

. will be in heaven, 

and that 1 i ;• with the world 

U, will i i and cr< st-fallen from the 

(ficull than to r 

Lumber* 
are many, v.!;*'. thus building on the .-and, h; 
in the hour i JTou may thuu 

!- the mi . tell of I 

depravi v i , and 

. and thinks il is wonder- 
full; has no ■ 
tia i 1 himself to I \ Lie 



Tin: a i 0ROUND OF TBI 2 .' I 

ami guilty creature you describe; be lias bo anodyne 

carried about with him to silence the firsl misgii Lng of 

the oneasy conscience, and he lies down in drugged and 

desperate repose. And there are many, it may be, who 

te in this insidious deception, and arc never 

used except by the voice of the last messenger, or by 

ishingofthe penal fires. That is the last ground 

of trust which the Apostle disclaims. 

And now of the things that we have spoken, what is 
the Sum J Jusl this. You may be early initiated into 

e ordinances of the Christian Church; you may have 
c«>me of a long line of spiritually illustrious ancestry, 
and he the sons "of parents passed into the skies;" 
you may give an intellectual assent to the grand har- 
mony of Christian truth ; you may he zealous in certain 
activities of benevolence, and in certain matters con- 
nected evetii with the Church of God itself; you may 
have passed among your fellows for a reputable and 
blameless man, against whom no one would utter a 
word of Blander, and in whose presence the elders stand 
up in reverence, as you pass by ; and yet, there ma}' 
pile upon you — (0 God, send the word home !) — there 
may pile upon you all the accumulation of carnal 
and carnal endowment; you may gain all 
this world of honor, and lose vour own soul. u And 
what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, 
and lose his own soul }" 

I have no time, as I imagined, to dwell upon the com- 
pensating power of the excellency of the knowledge of 



272 TnE AM8TJ 

Christ There Lb this compensation, however, u What 
tilings wer to me," Bays the Apostle, * those 1 

counted lose for Christ Sea, don aunt all 

things but Lose for the excelL the knowh 

I J< mm my Lord." This com] 

through en be a radical law both in 

L You 
I you. A man Dp to high 

place, and calumny an I barking at his hi 

I beholders, and consump- 
>rm T the bud, preying upon its 
zzling and enrap- 
turing, an<l ma the vacated 

thr. 

solemn affinity, 
d punishment 1 
can onlj i 

Ohri I of their 

. "If th( i let thi 
thou * I to conciliate the 

B :. an j Christ Thai was their 

• what was their punishment I Hie Romans did 
and by, a b away their place and 

natii I ' i Dactmcnt, that all the 

male children of I hould be drowned: that w;ls 

thr crime ; w!. | Pharaoh and 

his! iv drom oed in the waters of the Red Sea by 

and by. i I ambassadors of Babylon 

through th( Bilver and gold. 



THE APOSTLE B QBODND OF TBI 

tatiously BhowiDg them his wealth: that was theerime; 
what was the punishment i The treasures of silver 
and gold went off captive to Babylon by and by. 
David, in the lusl of Lis power, took the census of 
the people, and numbered them : that was the crime; 
what was the punishment? The pestilence fell upon 
the people whom David had numbered, and dried up 
the sources of the strength in which lie had boasted so 
fondly. 

And, just to remind yon of another case, who are 
those who are represented as standing at the barred 
gate of heaven, knocking, frantic and disappointed, 
outside, and crying in tones of agony that mortal lips 
cannot compass now, thank God ! " Lord, Lord, open 
to us." AYho are they? Not the scandalously sinful, 
not those who on earth were alien altogether — outcast 
altogether — proscribed altogether from the decencies 
and decorum of the sanctuary of God. No ; those who 
helped to build the ark, but whose corpses have been 
strewed in the waters of the deluge ; those who brought 
rafters to the tabernacle, but who, as lepers, were thrust 
out of the camp, or as transgressors, were stoned beyond 
the gate ; those who, on earth, were almost Christians ; 
those who, in the retributions of eternity, are almost 
saved ; beholding the Church on earth through the 
chink of the open door, watching the whole family as 
they are gathered, with the invisible presence and the 
fejt smile of the Father upon them ; beholding the 
family as they are gathered, beatific, and imperishable, 



1 






;274 TIIE APOSTLE'S GROUND OF TRl 

in heaven; but the door is shut. Almost Christians! 
aln. edl Oh Btrange ami .-ad affinity between 

crime and punishment! What is your retribution to 
bel w Every one shall receive according to filings he 

has done in the body, whether they he good) <>r whether 
they he had." 

Ohl come to Ohrist — that is the end of it — come to 
Hallow '.»ii by dedicating vour- 

ree living temple- unto the Lord. He will not n f 

to SCCepI jrOIL .Mark the zeal with which the Apostle 

Paul proclaimed the troth: mark the zeal, the I 

u domitable and unfailing, with which lie chimr to the 

■ 

kfasta p— M I dined to know nothing among men 

but Christ, and him crucified." Oh rare and match] 

'•hment ! ; that whieh was most in 

Tohium and in contumely among mem Never did 

f philosophy, as he came away 

from some E • prelection, utter his affirmation, " I 

am determined to know nothing among men Have 

md him poisoned ;" i did enraptui 

perBuasn e eloquence of Cieero, and 
utter his affirmation,"] determined to know nothing 
among men save Cicero, and him proscribed." Bui Paul 
take- the very vilest brand of shame, and binds it about 
hisbioi diadem of glory : "1 determine to know 

nothing I •. and him crucified." 

Fes, that is it, "Christ, and him crucified.' 3 "God 
forbid that I should gloiy, save in the cross." In the 
erosfl is to be our chiefesl glory. 



Tin-: &P081 ii- B GROUND OF TBI 

Trust thai cross for yourselves ; take hold of i\ : it is 
consecrated. La all circumstances of your history, in 
all exigencies of your mortal lot, take firm hold of the 

cross. When the destroying angel ride- forth upon the 
eloud, when his Bword is whetted for destruction, clasp 
the cross ; it shall bend over you a shield and a Bhade ; 

lie WlU relax his frown, and shrathe his sword, and pi 
quickly, harmlessly by. When you go to the brink of 

the waters, that you arc about to cross, hold up the 
cross; and by magic power they shall cleave asunder, 
• lid ancient Jordan before the ark of the covenant, 
and you shall pass over dry-shod, and in peace. When 
your feet are toiling up the slope, and you arrive at the 
gate of heaven, hold up the cross ; the angels shall 
know it, and the everlasting doors shall unbar them- 
selves, that you may enter in. When you pass through 
the ranks of applauding seraphim, that you may paj 
your first homage to the throne, present the cross, and 
lower it before the face of the Master, and he, for 
whose sake you have borne it, will take it from you, 
and replace it with a crown. 



XT. 
THE EFFECTS OF l'IKTV OH A XATloX. 

Lnd ho said, 0, let not tl I ry, and I will Bpeak yi-t but 

lid, I will 

- 

Rffoei .Ml- and mosl encouraging is this 

ilingprayer. [| mighl well stimulate 

u- to the exen mblimer faith when we behold a 

mortal ' ith Omni] ofc ace, v .\ ith 

• ; i holy | inilii-i! 

over that, 

r, with all th< it involves, there is 

another tl. I in the text, to which, at ilio 

pre* le, I wanl to direct your attention. The 

erf nations mn rd< d, by every enlight- 

the hist the proi idonce of Ged. I* 

is i . if we would study bistory aright, thai 

r in tlu' track of battL j, that we listen to the 

! of the vanquished and t«» the shoul of tl 
querors ; it is ool enor 

fal- 
warth and noble ]■■ of mankind ; it is not enough 

that we trace upon the page of history the subtile and 



in; ;s m- rn;i v 01 a N \ . I 

intricate developments of human character. To Btudy 
>ry aright, we must find God in it, we must always 
recognize the ever-presenl and the ever-acting Divinil 
working all things according to the counsel of his bene- 
nt and holy will, This is the prominenl aspect in 
which history ought to be studied, or grievous dishonor 

lone to the Universal Ruler, and intense injury is 
inflicted upon the spirits of men. God, himself, you 
remember, has impressively announced the guilt and 
danger of those who regard not the works of the Lord, 
nor the operations of his hands. The history of ancient 
Israeij for instance, the chosen people, led by the pillar 

cloud by day, and by the pillar of fire by night, 
through the marching of that perilous wilderness, what 
was it but the successful development, in a series of 

tidrous deliverances, of the ever-active providence of 

d I There were some things in that history which, of 
course, were incapable either of transfer or repetition; 
but the history itself included, and was ordained to set 
forth certain prominent principles for the recognition 
of all nations ; principles which were intended to assert 
the rights of God, and to assert the obligations of his 
creatures; principles which are to be consummated in 
their evolution amid the solemnities of the last day. It 
was so in the case of Sodom, punished as an example 
of God's chosen people. Their transgrec had 

become obduracy, their obduracy had blossomed out 

into punishment; but a chance in the Divine govern- 
ment yet remained to them; pieradventure (here might 



O^S TIIE EFFECTS OF PIETY ON A NATION. 

Lave been ten righteous in the city. If there had been 
ten righteous in the city, those pious men would have 
been the substance, the essence, the strength of the 
devoted nation ; for them, on their account) for their 
sakus, the utter ruin of the land might have been 
averted] and through them, after the .Divine displeasure 
had passed by, there might have Bprtmg up renewed 
strength and n 1 glory. We may fairly, I think, 

take tin*- as a g ueral principle, that pious men in all 
• the worlds y, are the true Btrength t£ the 

nations in which, in God's providence, they aiv privi- 
leged to lii averting calamity, oftentimes 

restoring Btrength and bit when, but for them, it 

would ha\ i er. This is tin prim 

ciple which I purpose, God helpii , to apply for a 

moment t<» our own ti . d to the land in which we 
Y.w: and in order ibjecl a great deal of a 

practical character, 1 will, in the first place, paint the 
pious men, and then .-how the effect which the 
tent main: of piety ms spatted 

to insure. 

1. In the first place, who are the pious men! Who 
y whom God, who never judges in Bhorl sighted- 
j, who Bees the end from the beginning, and who 
cannot possibly 1m- deceived or mistaken in his estimate 
of human character, who are they whom God de 
nates, "the holy seed that shall he the bu! 
thereof' 1 — the pious men that are the Btrength of the 
nations in which they live? In order to sustain the 



1H1 ; I'll IV o.\ A NA II 

honorable appellation which is thus assigned, men must 
cultivate habits of though! and of practice thai are 
appropriate to such a character. I will jus! mention 
tnro oi three particulars. 

In the first place, they are pious men who separate 
themselves avowedly and a1 the utmost possible dis- 
tance from Burrounding wickedness. Men are placed 
under the influence of religion, in order that they may 
arate from sin, in order that they may be governed 
by the habits of righteousness and true holiness. In 
times when depravity is especially flagrant, there is a 
special obligation upon pious men to bring out their 
virtues into 1 'raver and more prominent exercise, re- 
ding that surrounding depravity as in no wise a 
reason for flinching, or for cowardice, or for compro- 
- . but rather for the augmented firmness of their 
purity. Now, it cannot for one moment be doubted, 
that in the times in which we live iniquity does most 
flagrantly abound. There is not a sin which docs not 
exist, and exists in all rankness and impurity. Because 
of swearing the land mourns. God's Sabbaths are 
rtematically desecrated, his sanctuaries contume- 
Hously forsaken, his ordinances trampled under foot, his 
ministers me1 with the leer oftentimes due to detected 
spirators, and regarded as banded traitors, who have 
igainst the liberties of the world. The I; 
of the flesh scarcely affect to conceal their filthiness, 
everywhere unveiling their forms, and everywhere 
diffusing their pestilence. We do not venture upon 



2gO THE EFFKCTS 0* PIETY ON A NATION. 

any sort of comparison, we do not venture to compare 

the aggregate depravity of this age with the depravity 

that haa preceded. We do not atlirm the 

Leral fact, that the heart of man is "deceitful and 

. wicked," and that the depravity vve f 
ind as, the exl of the carnal mind, "which is 

enmity against God," is most fearfully aggravated by 
the abund; privilege by which the people are 

surrounded* Now* it is the duty, I repeat, of tb 

who would bav< ( - ..en, 

mum regard t! invoking them 

to bear the U itimony of unsullied and spotless holia 
I.< I ter which are scattered 

• the ]' the ] tible be Bolemnly ]■ 

ecL M I I u -d to this world, hut bfl ye 

trao the rcneM i r mind, 

may pro i >d and acceptable and 

will of I tod." " A bstain froui tnce of 

evil." In ;;::. i depravity is especially flagrant) 

do d borrow of the garments of falsehood; do 

Irt tin any meretricious Bemblance of that 

which is hateful in the sight of God. Ah. -tain from the 
appearance of evil. Com< 1: bo thoroughly that 

the fellowships and intercourse of social life do not 
Beduce yon i:< - I omplieity. " Be ao1 p#p- 

<-t' other n. U:i\ e uo fellowship with 

the unfruitful works of darkness, hut rather vepw 
%k He ye not unequally yoked together with nnheliev. 
for what fellowship hath light with darkness, and what 



Ill: ! I'll' I \ gg] 

1 hath Christ with Belial, and whal pari hath he 
bclieveth with an infidel?" '• Cleanse course] 

lVcin all liltlii- flesh and Bpirit; perfecting holi- 

s in the fear of God." 

You will qoI fail to perceive thai the whole of these 
passages have one aim and one summons, and that is 
holiness; holiness, as spotless in the x-cm-y of indi- 
vidual consciousness as in the jealous watch of men; 
holiness Bhrined in the heart and influencing benignly 
and transforming the entire character; holiness, that is 
BOmething more chivalrous than national honor ; holi- 
something that maintains a higher standard of 
right than commercial integrity ; holiness, something 
that is more noble-minded than the conventional cour- 
tesies of life; holiness which comes out in every-day 
existence, hallowing each transaction, taking hold of the 
B&oney as it passes through the hand in ordinary cur- 
rency, and stamping upon it a more noble image and 
superscription than Caesar's; holiness written upon the 
hells of the horses and upon the frontlet of the forehead, 
an immaculate and spotless lustre exuding, so to speak, 
from the man in daily life, so that the world starts back 

m him, and tells at a glance that he has been with 
Jesns. Now, brethren, it is to this, to the exercise and 
maintenance of this unflinching holiness, that you sure 
called. Here is the first prominent obligation of pious 

n. You are to confront every evil with its exact and 
diametrical opposite; and he who in circumstan 
like these in which we stand, ventures to hesitate, 01 



2g2 Tii i: effbcttb of piety on a natiux. 

ventures to parley, brand him as a traitor to his coun- 
try, a trait<»r to his religion, and a traitor to his Sod. 

tndly, if yon would be what God regards as pious 
men, yon must cultivate firm attachment to the doe- 
trii. I Christian truth. There is, brethren^ in our 

day, a very widely-diffused defectiveness of religions 
profession, a very widely-diffused departure ttdm the 
faith that was *-once delivered t«> the Baints." This is a 
Christian country. Men call it bo, I know; hut th- 

::i daily practice a and Bad departure (teat 

f Christianity — ay, on the part of men by 
whom • this being a Christian country is 

I noisily and b ' ly maintained. 

Axe you Bl t«» the pr< sence in the mid>t of us 

Of the dark :rit of unbelief; a \ anal pi\ 98 

ari( - poi toning the fresh Ueod of 

tening 1 . and which, it' 

their own account of the circulation of their ] ernici 

prin ifl to | d upon, has already tainted 

hundreds of tin . with that infect* 

who not in the dcM ruction of the btdyl 

True, it is for the most pari bland, conciliate 
plausible, rather than audacious and braggart* as in 

former times, veiling its deadly purpose in Bong or in 

•y. But the dagger is no! the less deadly 1 i 
the haft is jewelled, and infidelity is not the less infr 

del' . the LeSS ] -crn ha. K18, UOl the 1« 9S accui> 

because genius has woven its Btories to adorn it, and 

bl cause faj wreathed it int 



Tin: KKKKi is (»K ri 1 HATI 

Arc jfou strangers to the avowed denial on the part 
di\ inity and atonement of our Lord 
to the man-exalting opinion which relies 
for it- own salvation npon the piled ap fabric of its own 
or which through the flinty rockfl of Belf- 
liteoiis morality, would tunnel out a passage to the 
.ml throne i 
Are you strangers to the workings of the grand 
iy darkening the sunlight of the Saviour's Jove, 
dislocating the perfection of the Saviour's work, ham- 
ring the course of the atonement with the frail 
angled frame-work of human merit, restless in its 
endeavors to regain its ascendency, crafty, and vigilant 
and formidable as ever i 

An to the heresy which has made its 

in the midst of a body once deeming itself 
the fairest offspring of the Reformation, and which 
ild exclude thousands from covenanted mercies, he- 
car, own not priestly pretensions, and conform 
raditional rites I 

you strangers in the other quarter of the horizon 

and of the sky, to dark and lowering portents that have 

with rationalistic and German infidelity 1 

Brethren, there is ;i duty, solemn and authoritative, 

ting upon the pious men that they hold fast that 

which was ••".'>••• delivered to the Baints." Let the 

is, ioo, on this matter, be carefully pondered. 

*Be no more children tossed to and fro with every 

wind of doctrine, by the sleighl of man and cunning 



284 



THE : ^ OF PIETY ON A NAlI-N. 



craftiness whereby they lie in wait to betray." "Stand 
fast' 5 — not loose, not easily shifted, having a finri 
foundation — "stand fast in the faith once delivered u 
the B ■• : ted in the faith;" be "grounded 

in : :" M I Qd earn- Btly for ,;'h/' Bre- 

thren, here >n, and i( is solemnly 

binding up . An<l while there arc Borne around 

as that would rob Ohrisl . and others that 

Jd rob I . and others, i yal 

ns, that would Bteal both I and the other, let 

it be outh to take our stand firm and unswerving by the 

altars of the truth ; let OUT go forth to the 

uni nothing among men, 

( ■. and him 1." 

And, then, thirdly . would b 

dial, brotherly 

[n ti uni obligation 

upon all M who hold tl the 

spirit of unity with all "who hold the head.* 3 By 

unity, we do nol mean uniformity. There is none, th 

rsc of ( lo& Vou have it 
nol in nature. Yon u out into the waving wood- 

h when d< ath . and you may pm 

their riol ■. and cut them 

aething like ' ; but 

will Ian. -ur 

. 

Wherever t re wiU he found variety of 

aging foams which attract and fascinate t 1 



Tin: i.ii m i, OF !■;; i v OfM A na 1 1 285 

We do nol mean nniformity, therefore ; the harmony of 

. or the adjustment of actions, the drowsy repeti- 

beliofj or the harmonious intonation of one 

Ktargy, hul we mean "the unity of the spirit in the 

id of peace," which we are to intensely labor to 
maintain and procure. Lei the exhortations on this 
patter also be very solemnly pondered. M A new com- 
mandment," so that there arc eleven commandments 
now; the decalogue has been added to by this new 
tnmandment, which is, indeed, the substance and cs- 

ce of all the rest. "A new commandment give I 
onto you, that ye love one another." "Be kindly 
i icd one to another, in brotherly love, in honor 
pr< one another." Nay, the Apostle does not 

kesitat* it down as one of the surest evidences of 

Christian discipleship. "We know that we have passed 
from death unto life, because we love the brethren/' 
C« tmpliance with these exhortations is always imperative, 
especially imperative in seasons of national clanger. 
Everything that is ominous, everything that is solemn, 

n thing that is portentous around us, must be re- 
garded as an earnest call to Christians to live together 
in love. This love is to be cherished everywhere — to 
be cherished toward those who arc members of the same 

tion of the universal Church. Here, of course, tin 

old be no orphan's heart. Here, all should feel 
themselves members of a commonwealth. There should 
be a rejoicing with those that do rejoice, and a weeping 
with those that weep ; and, as by electric lire, the wants 



TUE EFFECTS OF riETY ON A NATION. 

and the wishes of the one should be communicated to, 
and acknowledged by the whole, that it should not only 
i our own communion, but toward all who 
hold "the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, and 
in righteora life," Wherever Christ is ack T .,»w- 

ledged, his fied, his crown vindicated, his 

law made honorable — wherever tl I 'hrist is 

the aim, and the glory of Christ is the purpose, there 
the Church Bhould kno ian and should hail as 

brethren. This duty is one that has been scandalously 

bed in the times in which we live; and that 

; and augmented the 

perils of tl we must all amend if we 

would iint betray. And the Church of Christ 

>!iall 00 in heart afl in Bpiril One, then shall the 

at build (iu.l .-hall 

>rj of the latter hoii-e 

.-hall exceed i £ the former," and the whole! 

"building fitly framed together shall -row up into a 
holy temple of thr LorcL M 
Then, fourthly, it" we would he pious men as God 

mates piety, v, JoUS in endeavor lor the 

spread of the Gospel, and for the conversion of the 

world. The errors and the Crimea of which we have 

•ial. We have hut to gather 
into our mi plation of guilt bo heindn 

ogive that it rises up in the presence Of the Holy 
One, and calls for vengeance as lie i i apod Us 

throne; then. We have but to remember the OOfl 



Tin. i i ■ 0] rn.i v OH a .\a ; I >.\. 

quences of thai guilt, everywhere producing misery, 
rywhore drying up the sources of spiritual affluence, 
rywhere exposing to the unending perditions of hell* 

>w brethren, nothing — and I would Bpeak as one 
member of the army summoning others to the battle- 
tield — nothing will avail but the combined, and devoted, 
and persevering exertions of the members of the Church 
below. How else shall we attempt to grapple with the 
depravity around us? Parliamentary enactments, what 
can they do? Threats to affright, or bribes to Beduce, 
what can they do 3 Patronage in all its prestige, and 
all its power, all that can be possibly brought out of 
State treasury or of State influence, what are they? 
Availlesfl utterly without the power and Spirit of God. 
No; there must be a band of faithful men who are thus 
renovated and redeemed going forth in the name of the 

rd. They must sustain the ministry in existing pas- 
torates, and spread it wherever it has never been estab- 
lished. They niu^t support institutions for the educa- 
tion of the entire man, institutions based upon the Word 
of God. They must become themselves preachers of 
" the truth as it is in Jesus;" by prayer, by influence, 
by example, by effort, they must display all the grace 
which has redeemed them; and especially they must 
all in earne.-t, repeated, importunate supplications be- 

_e the throne of grace in prayer. There ifl another 
. the last 1 shall give you on this matter to- 
night, and you are now to answer it with intense energy, 
with intense zeal. Coldness here is irrational. Ardor 



ggg THE EFFEUT8 OF PIETY ON A NATION. 

here is reason. Indifference here is foolishness. Ear- 
nest . it' you will, enthusiasm here is the highest 
and sublimes! wisdom. 

If yon would be pious men, therefore^ as God esti- 
mates piety, you are to c me out from the world a*id 
to be separated from it ; you are to hold fast the doc- 
trines yon have received; you are to cultivate to each 
other the h rotherly love ; and vou are to be 

| tic in heart for I . of the world. 

II. 1 i -id briefly, to notice the 

which we are warranted in expecting such con- 
duct a- thi- t<» insure. This is the doctrine of the text, 
thai Sodom would have b< r< d if the ten righteous 

a had been there. Pious men are presented to 

LOB in which thev live, 

autifullj i'. - nted in several other parts 

Scriptur . J for inMamv, in the pto- 

:ith the L«»rd, As 

the . and one lakh, 

1 U Btroj it not; so will I d<> for 

, thai I >( d< stray them alL 

1 1 will bring forth a seed oul and out of 

Judah an inheritor <»t' my mountains; and mini 

!! inherit it, mid my ts shall dwell thar 

in, in the prop] :hi, iii. 1", 11 : 

"B • that tk 

may be meal in mine house, and prove me now hem- 
Lord of hosts, if 1 will not open yon the 
wind a, and pour you out a bl< bat 



tii; . rn.i v OK a .\ a ; : 

there shall not be room enough t-> receive it And I 

will rebuke the devourer for your sake.-, and he Bhall 

itroy the fruits of your ground, n< ither Bhall y<>nr 

isl her fruit before the time in the field, saith the 

d of hosts.' 5 

We see here the development of the general principle 
for which we contend, thai God preserves nation- for 
the Bake of pious men. The annals el* the past .-he\s r 
how very frequently he lias put to naught statesman- 
3 3 and armies, and lias rendered honor to truth, 
meekness, and righteousness. This I do solemnly be- 
lieve to be the case in our own land in this crisis of its 
affairs, and I am bold to affirm my conviction, that the 
stinies of England and of the British Empire are at 
this moment in the hands of its pious men. If they be 
faithful to their high trust and to the vocation to which 
they are eminently and signally called, nothing can 
harm us ; no weapon that is formed against us shall 
■r be able to prosper. I think this might be made 
the history of the past, both as to temporal 
iritual matters. I appeal to you whether it is 
not manifest that the temporal interests of a nation are 
bound up in its piety? Let pious men prevail in a 
.1, let the population become imbued with the spirit 
and with the leaven of evangelical godliness, what is 
[uence? Order is at once preserved. Afl 
their holiness spread-, as their unworldly yet earnest 
example manifests itself and begins to be felt, sounder 

views prevail. The moral is felt remacy 

13 



Of)Q THE EFFECTS OF PIETY ON A NATION. 

over the secular; the political agitator, the infidel demu- 
_ ae, the philoosphical i. . arc scouted as phvsi- 

cians of no value ; and men everywhere learn to submit 
tolthe orderly restraints and the well-regulated govern? 
ment of law. 

Let pious men prevail, and they will keep up the 

a land. I do not mean that crouching 

ems • :i the one hand, nor that ribald lic6H- 

n "ii the other hand, which have both beep 

oified by the nan. streme political parti 

Lut 1 mean v. 1 libertj : liberty 

which respects the ri >r people at the same 

tin.' and vi' own ; liberty 

which with one 1., the things that 

are ( other hand takes rare to 

ivi: ' : liberty which 

hopon iii* ' the 1 to ine command 

■. all t In* world 

a man. Thai liberty 

will 1" found, and 

whi s to 

gpr 

w ill preserve the prosperity of 

a land. 'I ' v which iiiu>l he al>an- 

>r v hich must he speedily 
forsworn ; hut thai substantia] and 

abiding will remain under the influences <>i' piety. An 

wiil minister then ii<»t to luxury bul to truth; 

will minister then not to infidelity but to truth; com 



Tin: l i \ N \ , ; 

■ m re o will minister then qo! to selfishness but to b< i - 

olence ; and other realms shall render to as their 

tinbotighl and anpnrchasable homage, and the Bons of 

• emintrx, in their no1 unholy pride, may wave tl 

banner to the wind, with the motto on if : 

'* He La the freeman whom the truth makes free, 

And all arc slaves besid 

Yes, brethren, it is Britain's altar and not Britain's 

throne, Britain's Bible and not Britain's statute book, 
that is the great, and deep, and strong sourco of her 
national prosperity and renown. Do away with this j 
sutler that fidelity with which, in some humble measure, 
we have borne witness for God, to be relaxed ; let our 

bbaths be sinned away at the bidding of unholy or 
mistaken mobs; let us enter into adulterous and un- 
worthy alliance with the man of sin ; let us be traitors 
to the trust with which God lias invested us, to take 
care of the ark of the Lord, and the crown will lose its 
lustre, the peerage its nobility, and the senate its com- 
mand; all the phases of social rank and order will be 
disjointed and disorganized ; a lava tide of desolation 
will overwhelm all that is consecrated and noble, and 
angel- may Bing the dirge over a once great, but now 
hopelessly fallen people: "the glory is departed from 
Israel, because the ark of God is taken." Keep fast by 

it ark, hold it — hold your attachment to ir as the 
strongest element of being, and there shall be no bounds 
to the sacred magnificence of our nation ; but the fires 



292 THE KFFKCTS OF PIETY ON A NATION. 

of the last day, when they consume all that is perishable 
and drossy, with the light of the Divine 

}>n gleaming harmlessly around our brow, and in 

Oar hand the open law for all the nations of mankind. 

Those are temporal benefits. And, then, lot there bo 
pious men in the land, and spiritual benefits will also 
be secured. There will, for instance, be the defeat of 
era 9. Truth, when the Spirit inspire 

not, abstract truth ik and powerless. Truth, with 

S irit in it, is mighty, and will prevail. These can 
be no fear as to the result, because the world ha 
been left, and will never be left without the active 
h "I. 1 ■'.. - out impetuously, just 

thai leap and rattle over the 
summit of the mountain after the thunder-storm^ ovei> 
whelming in the . but dying avpay into 

and silence by and by ; truth is the little 
spri ! gently, and do 

and noi • until at last navies are 
wafted 'in. and it pou full volume of 

triumphant wa1 i the rejoicing sea. So it will 

with truth ; wealth cannot bribe it, talent cannot dazzle 

"phiMn erreach it, authority cannot pi . 

it ; they all, like Felix, tremble in its majestic presence. 
I. • pious men iuc: . and each of them will becoi 
a centre of holiness; apostates will be brought hack i<» 
the Church, poor backsliders will be reclaimed into new* 
found Liberty and new created privilege, and there will 
be a cry like thai on the Bummit of Carmel after tho 



'i in. l l i i < ra OF PH l v OH a N I i . 

• er, and bad i - ined in the di icomfl- 
tmv 6f Baal, " The Lord, he is I tod ; the Lord, he 

\r 

1, then, better than all that, salvation of sonls will 
be secured. The conversion of a son] is an infinitely 

:• triumph than the eradication of a false opinion. 

alse opinion may be crushed, and the man thai holds 
it may be in imminent spiritual peril ; converl the man's 

tl, and his opinions will come right by and by. Oh, 

if ftfl you go from this place to-night, you were to he- 
hold the crowds of tempters and temptresses to evil that 
will cross your path as you travel homeward, if you 
think of their activity, of their earnestness to proselytize 
in the grand diabolical army, and to make sevenfold 
more the children of hell than they are themselves, and 
if you think of the apathy of the faithful, of the scanti- 
effort, of the failure of faith, of the depression 
endeavor, of the laxity of attachment on the part of 
believers in Jesus, surely there is enough to make you 
1 and confounded. Brethren, I should like, if 
I could, to bring before you one solitary soul, to fasten 
IT attention upon that soul, to transfix it as with a 
lightning glance before you, so that you might trace it 
in it> downward path, see it as habit crusts it over, and 
rejoices over it, and the foul fiend gloats 
• n it in mo ;.nd disease, prematurely indue 

upon it, and death waits for his prey, and hell is 
moved from beneath to meet it at its coming, and that 
bonld follow it down into those dark and dread 



tiu is of rii.iv on a HATiopr. 

abodes, which man 1 .1 painteth not, and of which 

man's imagination, thank G , cannot conoeiy^J oh! 

draw the curtain over that ; we -la ! 

Bat Bfl yon think of the real B] peril in which not 

* a family — OhI it' there were but a family, all 

don would be awa deliverance — hut tl. 

i- a world in danger — n< not a Tan.' an 

d, not a < 1 lit a world — if 1 e<.u!d | 

ten thai upon your 

, would M glad 

heai . anything for CJrod, 

and would ke I 

.1 will 

lamp that 

Ju8l 1 do all il.l -, J OU 

mi, the 

number of I nal- 

. i . 

I arch of ( rod, hut aiv cut of 
Chri commonwealth 

I.I you will he 

thunderbolt! and 
ehai w ith your country's ruin, and 

the rnin of . < i to Christ now ; let all j pur 

past iniquity be f o and forgiven as you bow 

him in humiliation and in tears; he ^ill apt 
refuse you ; lie will ou out. Then enter p] 



Tin: 1 . PIET1 I >H \ S 

a life of J 'it- 1 \ in Bpite of all thai Bcoflers ay. Ah! 

•i is nol o mean a thing as infidels represent it to 

I They curl the lip of scorn al us, and we can bear 

that; they flash the eye of hair at QB, and we can hear 

th;ii, as long as God looks upon 6s with complacency, 
as long as he has promiBed t<> crown us as conquerors in 
heaven, for which, by our spiritual conflicts and vic- 
-hall have come prepared. Oh, it is do mean 
thing. The saint, the righteQus man, the piotts believer 
in Jesus, is a patriot as well as a .--int. The worldling 
may sneer ami scorn, but we have a noble revenge, for 
it is pious men that have kept the conflagrating 
elements away from this long doomed world up to the 
present moment of it- history ; and if the ten righteous 
had not been in this enormous Sodom, long ere now 
would the firebrand of destruction have struck it that it 
might be consumed in its deserved ruin. Thank God, 
there is hope for the world yet. 

Wneii the prophet in depression and in sorrow was 

ing, "I, even I, only am left, the prophet of the 

Lord,'' God pointed him to ^cyqii thousand that had 

never bowed the knee to Baal ; and there are faithful 

ones in the places of the world yet, palm-tree 

wing up in unexpected places, amid sandy 

I and with no companionship, who are flourishing in 

r and earnest in persevering prayer. There 

is hope for the world yet. oh, for the Increase of these 

pious men ! Be you of the number of this unosten- 

bul valiant host. Do you pant for fame) You 



296 THE urraon 01 ram ok a nation. 

can find it here. Young men, there are some af yon in 
the presence of God that have ambition high bounding 
in your hearts, who fed the i F youth within 

yon ; who feel that the flight of your & i 

• the flig g or the breathlen; that 

there ifl something .-till within you that pants for a 

yon have yet attained ; oB cii 
to Christ, - in hifl idiere of 

the ■ moral battles, and yours shall be the 

. To yon the Church ' ing; your tatL 

won) out with lal bansted with the vicissitu< 

rapidly away, and 
tin 

ha\ B( pecting for 

them hi triumphs, the fiery chariot 

came apd : od not] I for oa but 

k of the cavalcade, in our 
bo] . •■ My father, my 

l'at: od the ' d thereof.* 1 

Ohl l d, they hai mantles down, 

and it i 

in the gam rted, and like them, to 

die. 



XII. 



THE PROPHET OF EOREB— HIS I. IKK AM) 
ITS LESSONS. 

11 Elijah, the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead." — 
1 Kin us, ivil 1. 

The mountains of the Bible will well repay the 
climber. There is a glorious prospect from their 
summits, and moral bracing in the breathing of their 
difficult air. 

f the events in Bible history, which either 
reat principles, illustrate Divine perfections, 
bear impressively upon the destinies of man, have 
had the mountains for the pedestals of their achieve- 
ment. Beneath the arch of the Covenant-rainbow the 
lone ark rested upon Ararat ; Abraham's trial, handing 
vn the high faith of the hero-father, and typing the 
later sacrifice of the future time, must be M on one 
of the mountains" in the land of Moriah; Aaron, 
climbing heavenward, is "unclothed and clothed upon" 
amid the solitudes of Hor; and where but on the crest 
of Nebo could Moses gaze upon the land and diel It' 
the] and experiment to determine between 

rival faiths — to defeat Baal- to exalt Jehovah, what 



398 

spot so fitting as the excellency of Carmel ? It was due 
to the great and dread events of the Saviour^ hist* 
that they should be enacted where the world's bread 
eye could light upon them, hence he is transfigured 
i% un the high mountain apart," on Olivet he prays, ori 
Calvary he dies ; and, at the close of all, in the 
eternal allotment, amid adoring angels 
and perfected men, we cheerfully "come to Mount 

Precious Scripture in all phases of its 

appearance, the quality which, above all others, invi 

it with a richer value, ' cquisite adaptation to 

;' man. Professing itself to be his 
infallibl , it employs all m< 

u M The Man of bur coun- 

and in 

Bul we K-arn m< :i living exemplar 

d from utterance. The truth, which baa 

man of like passions with 
oun lunar rainbow. 

furnish us with correel notions and a beautiful 
d learn proportion from a statue, 
bn1 t!;- of life to Influence and to 

transform, II- otthe least impressive and salu- 

tary Bible teaching Is by the accurate exhibition oif 
individual char . A man's life is there Sketched 

of ii merely which he presents 
t<> the world, which the restraints of society have modi- 
fied) which intercourse has subdued into decorousni 



his i. in-: and i 

i which shrouds his meaner Belf in a conventional 
hyj ; 1 mi t his inner life, bis management of the 

which give the Bum of character, bis ordinary 
liold doings, as well as the rarer Beasons of 
■V ami of trial. The whole man is before as, and 
we can Bee him as he is. Partiality cannot blind as, 
nor prejudice distort our view. Nothing is exagj 
rated, nothing is concealed. His defects are there — his 
falterings and depressions — his mistrusts and betrayals 
— like so many beacons glaring their warning lights 
npon our path. J lis excellencies arc there — his Btern 
integrity and consistent walking. Lis intrepid wrestling 
and heroic endurance — that we may be followers of his 
patience and faith, and ultimately share his crown. So 
marked and hallowed is this candor, that we do not 
winder at its being alleged as an argument for the 
book's divinity. The characters arc all human in their 
experience, although divine in their portrayal. They 
we; j those Bible worthies, world-renowned, 

kitten, princely men, towering indeed in moral, 
;l in physical, stature above their fellow.-, 
but still men of like passions with ourselves — to the 
ae frailties incident — with the same trials battling — 
by the same temptations frequently and foully over- 
come. Their perfect hum is, indeed, their strong- 
influence and greatest charm. Of what avail to us 
re the biography of an angel, could you chronicle his 
joys in the calm round of heaven I There could be no 
Lpathy either of condition or experience. 



But the Bible, assuming the essential identity o£ the 
race, tells of man, and the M one blood n of all nati 
leaps np to the thrilling tale. There is the old narra- 
tive of lapse and Loss; the tidings, ancient and unde- 
caying, of temptation, conflict, mastery, recompense. 
In ourselves there have been the quiverings of David's 
Bon -in. We, perhaps 

like Elijah, ha- by turns c and coward — 

fervent as Peter, and a- fait] o. The heart 

■ the hie and strugg] 

human; the bh 

It : the Prophet 

a!i. Throughout the whole of bis car* are 

piration than by him- 
We f the man in the 

which \ I him at 

] 

whi 

with him- 

Zarephath, 

in hi -in on i ' aiel — when 

I child, or pahs the brow 
ing. He abi aj to the 

ind L BLe alwi gard himseli 

man — lifted, by his eQnuecqk 
or the fear of his kind — (on 
q difficult and perilous duty — 
a flying roll, carven with mercy and with judgment — 



i and n 30] 

'..>, rather than ao original utterance— u the 
of one," nol " one," but k> I be \ < Ace of i 
ovying In the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the 

■ i!" 

hruptly he bun A/. We know 

his birth, nothing of his parentage, nothing 
of his training. On all these matters the record is pro- 
foundly silent. He is presented to us at onoe, afull- 

>wn and authoritative man, starting in the path of 

;i!> sudden as the lightning, energetic and alarming 
tts the thunder. " Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the 
inhabitants of Gilead." This is all. And it is all we 
need. What reck we of his ancestry? lie is royal in 
his deeds. Obscure in his origin, springing probably 
ttom the herdsmen or vine-dressers of Galilee, regarded 
the men of Tishbe as one of themselves — a little 

irved and unsocial withal — his person, perhaps, held 
in contempt by the licentious court, and his intrusions 

unitized as annoying impertinence, he held on his 
high way notwithstanding, performed stupendous mira- 

B, received large revelations, and at last, tired of the 

rid, went up to heaven in a chariot of fire. I low- 
often have we seen the main fact of this story realized 
in later times! Men have looked at the trappings 
the messenger — not at the import of his message, 
ir faculty of appreciation has been grievously im- 
paired. A. prophet has Leaped into the day with his 

rden of reproof and truth-telling, but he has not 1» 
clad in silken sheen, nor a speaker of smooth thil 



302 TUE TKOrilET OF IIOREB, 

and the world has gone on to its merchandise, while the 
broken-hearted seer has retired into the wilderness to 
die. A poet has warbled out his soul in secret, and 
discoursed most exquisite music — but, alas! it has been 
played among the tombs. A glorious iconoclast has 
come forth among the peoples, "expecting that they 
would have understood how that the Lord by him had 
Bent deliverance," but he has been met by the insulting 
rejoi "Who made thee a ruler and a jud^ef 

Thus, in I ijB of her nonage, because they lacked 

and lofty Uneaj WOrld poured eoii- 

tempt apoi • of th< & M A 

heretic l" shoul Inquisition. 

% * Ai.'l yet it m 

•1 abjur. r the immutable truth. 

A : Portugal^ and 

I } ( ied the log of wood 

in i i drifting, and opened up Ameriea— the 

rich El I > an ancient dream, u An ' 

piri the I) of the time, 

and the old j-h\ I Harvey with an in- 

[j because he affirmed the i 
eolation of the blood. "A Bedfordshire tinker 1" 

i the |" ith a whiff of the otto of ro 

if the very mention of his crafl was infragrant^ 

" what has hi- to d< , and write books, and 

op for a teacher of bis fellows?" But glorious John 

myan, !• them in their own Cabul-country, 

dwelt in the land of Beulah, climbed up straight to tlio 



ins LIFE and IT8 i 303 

presence of the Bhining ones, and had k * all the trump* 
toonding for him on the other side." Sid tith 

#fate At, and tried to write down w 'ilu> consecrated 
Gabbler," who was to evangelize India; bul William 

v\ shall live embalmed In memories of converted 
thousands long after the witty canon of St. Paul's is for- 
g tten or is remembered only as a melancholy example 
<tf genius perverted and a vocation mistaken. U A 
Methodkl I" jested the godless witlings of Brazennose ; 
"A Jacobin !" reiterated the makers of silver shrines ; 
H A ringleader in the Gordon Riots !" said the Romanists 
whose errors he had combated; and the formalistic 
churehmanship of that day gathered up its gentilities, 

i »tli( > d its milled fringes, and with a dowager's state- 
liness flounced by "on the other side;" and reputable 
btiVghere, the " canny bodies " of the time, subsided into 
thoir own respectabilities, and shook their heads at 
every mention of the pestilent fellow; but, ealni-browed 
and Eigh-souled, John Wesley went on until a large 
portion of his world-parish rejoiced in his light, and 
wondered at its luminous and ardent flame. And if it 

lawful to speak of the Master in the same list as his 
disciples, who, however excellent, fall immeasurably 

slmrt of their Divine Pattern, 1L was called aNazarene, 
and thnv was the scorn of a world couched m the con- 
ptuoua word. 
There are Bymptoms, however, of returning sanity. 

Judicial ermine and archiepi8COpal lawn robing the sons 
of tradesmen, and the blood of all the MontmorencieS — 



3-4 

fooled by mesaUiana with crime — cooling itself in a 
common prison, are remarkable of the times. 

Men are beginning to feel conscious, nut, perhaps, that 
they have committed a crime, but that they have been 
guilty of what in the diplomacy of Talleyrand w 
Bidered worse — that is, a blunder. Whether the chivalry 
of feudalism be extinct or not, there can be no question 
that the villenage of feudalism is gone. Common men 
nowadays question the wisdom of nobilities, cataract the 
, and do not even Listen obsequiously 
to catch the whispers of kings. That is ■ strong and 
arid-feeling which the poet embodies when 
he sings : 

E 

to mo 

'Til 

K . 

h than Norman blood.* 1 

that rank has lost its prestige, nor royalty its 
bono*. Elevated Btation is a high trust, and furnishes 
opportunity for < . The cbfonel may 

be honored or d at the pleasure of the #emr. 

When the rank is larger than the man, when his indi- 
viduality is Bhrouded behind a hundred i-anns, 
when he has bo much of the blood of his ancestors in 

his veins that there IS no room for any generous y\\, 



ins LIFE AND I I 

of his own, why, of course, he musl find hi.- own level) 
and be con ten I to be admired, like any other pice 
i dona] passers-by ; bul h ben I 
remembers bis humanity, and has Byxnpathy for 
the erring and encouragemenl for the sincere — • 

11 When, all the trappings freelj swept away, 
The man's great natuiv leaps into tin 1 day," 

s nubility men are nol slow to acknowledge— the cap 

and plume bend very gracefully over the borrow which 
they BUCCOr, and the jewelled hand is blanched into 
a heavenlicr whiteness when it beckons a struggling 
people into the power and progress of the coming time. 
The great question which must be asked of any new 
aspirer who would mold the world's activities to his 
will, is not, Whence comes he? but, What is he? 
There may be some semi-fossilized relics of the past 
who will continue to insinuate, "Has he a grand- 
father | M But the great world of the earnest and of 
the workers thunders out, "Has he a soul? lias he 
a lofty purpose, a single eye, a heart of power? Has 
he the prophet's sanctity and inspiration, as well as his 
boldness and fervor J Never mind the bar sinister on 
his escutcheon — has he no bur sinister in his life I lias 
he a giant'.- strength, a hero's courage, a child's Minpli- 
., an aj love, a martyr's will J Then is he 

ticiently ennobled." if I, a Gospel charioteer, meet 

him as he essays, trembling, to drive into the world, 
what iiul4 be my salutation i Art thou of noble bloud i 



THE PROPHET OF IIOEKB, 

Is thy retinue large! thy banner richly emblazoned! 
thy speech plai thy purpose l'air I No — hut '< Is 

thy heart right \ n If it be, give me thy lunul. 

A prominent feature in the Prophet's character, one 
which cannot fail to impi\ every mention of his 

n to the object of Am 
• upon I h to be the earth's 

■ ;' GkxL Xhifl WSfi hifi life-purpose, and faith- 
fully he fulfilled it. Rising above the temptations of 

. ' iiir of his Master bo crucify 

natural a£ —-sternly repn nihility 

whi ■'. ith duty ; trampling upon 

.idly in: randizc- 

Ing and 

un: . end. G in ei erything ; 

i. bis miraclc> ; 

: exhibit i "»d, his life. 

A - the J' allowed up the symbols of 

id this consuming I in 

Elijah impulse, and cadi low 

His < ; him, his consistency 

1 1 opinions/' He 

spurned alike the adulation of a monarch and of a n. 

[Ie neither favor of a court* nor made 

unv. the : - of Daal. 

r, he did a true man's 

work in a true man's way, with one purpose and a 
rt. 

bough many partfl of this character cannot, on 



ins i.ih. a.\i> i rS LI B80N8. 

account of li is peculiar vocation, be presented for our 
imitation, in Lis unity of purpose and of effort be fur- 
nishes cm frith a Doble example. This oneness of prin- 
ciple — freedom from tortuous policy — the direction of 
the en< o the attainment of one worthy cud — 

appears to be what is meant in Scripture by the u sin| 

." -/<-/V -not complex — no obliquity in the vision 
— looking straight on — taking in one object at one time. 
And it' we look into the lives of the men who have vin- 
dicated their right to be held in the world's memory, 
Ave shall find that all their actions evolve from one com- 
prehensive principle, and converge to one magnificent 
achievement. Consider the primitive apostles. There 
you have twelve men, greatly diverse in character, 
cherishing each his own taste and mode of working, 
laboring in different localities, and. bringing the one 
Gk>spel to bear upon different classes of mind, and yet 

■ywhere — in proud Jerusalem, inquisitive Ephesus, 
cultured Athens, voluptuous Rome — meeting after many 
years in that mightiest result, the establishment of the 
kingdom of Christ. Much of this issue is of course due 
to the Gospel itself, or rather to the Divine agency 
which applied it, but something also to the unity of 
the UH rSj their sincere purpose, and sustained 

endeavor. And SO it is in the case of all who have 
been the benefactors of mankind. They have had 
ter-purposej which has molded all others into 
a beautiful subordination, which they have maintained 
amid hazard and suffering, and which, shrined sacredly 



in the heart, lias influenced and fashioned the life. If 
a man allow within him the play of different or con- 
tradictory purposes, he may, in a lifetime^ pile up a 
head of gold, a 1 Iver, thigh* 6f hra>s, and 

feet of clay, but ir ie but b great image after all. It 
crumbles at the first touch of the Bmiting Btone, and, 
like the chaff of the Bummer threshing-floor, its frag- 
ments arc help] wind. If, <>n the othgr hand, 
a man'.- doings grow oul and the same spirit, 
and that spirit he consecrated to holy endeavw, they 
will interp and combine into beneficent aeh'u 
ment, and Btand out a Life-gn ing and harmonious whole, 
Una i<-r which v q contend, is distinct- 
ire of I .' the whole family of 
may run . and 
te man, : it must be informed by 
pint, revealed to the 
and it must appear " in the & i m- 
plefc ic unity," ere it can down bo be 
a household word in the family, <»r a hidden treasure in 
heart In whatever department u the beauty-mak- 
Power" fa -in the bodiless thought, or 
in the breathing marble; in the chefaFcsmnm af the 
artist, or in tfc architect ; whether 
. Iwaiiadle paints, Shakspcare deline- 
, i >r Kfilton there is ti . i of 
the animating spirit Hamlet, Paradise Lost, and 1 

: ' Greek Slave, and the Madonna ; the Coliseum 
and Westminster Abbey; are they not, each in its kind, 



HIS I 1 1 i ' AM) [T8 I 

creations to which nothing can be added with adyaa- 
• •. and from which, without damage, nothing can be 
taken awai I 

And of that other Book — our highest Literature 
I as our unerring law — the glorious, world-subduing 
r»il)K\ do we not feel the samel In ii the 

experiment has been tried. The Apocryphal has been 
bound up with the Inspired, like "wood, hay, and 
ibble," loading the rich fret-work of a stately pile, or 
the clumsy work of an apprentice superadded to the 
finish of a master. Doubtless instruction may be 
fchered from it, but how it " pales its ineffectual fires" 
'iv the splendor of the Word ! It is unfortunate for 
it that they have been brought into contact. We 
might be grateful for the gas-lamp at eventide, but it 
were grievous folly to light it up at noon. As in 
•\ literature, art, so it is in character. We can 
wrap up in a word the object of "the world's foster 
gods ;" to bear witness for Jehovah — to extend Christ- 
ianity — to disinter the truth for Europe — to " spread 
'[-tural holiness" — to humanize prison discipline — to 
li.-li slavery — these are soon told ; but if you unfold 
h word, you have the life-labor of Elijah, Paul, 
Lather, Wesley, Howard, Wilberforce — the inner man 
h heart laid open, with its hopes, joys, (ears, 
.A'ties, ventures, faiths, conflicts, triumphs, ill the 
h«ng round of weary and of wasting year.-. 

Look at this oneness erf principle embodied in action. 
it in Martin Luther. //• has a purpose^ that rniru tfs 



310 

son. That purpose is the acquisition of knowledge, 
Ilr exhausts epeedily the resources uf Mansfield ; reads 
hard, and devours the lectures at Madgeburgj chants 
in tlie hours of recreation, like the old Minnesingers, In 
. for bread; Bits at : of Trebonius in the 

college ai Eisenach; enters as a student at Erfurt, and 
at the >■- a . has outstripped his fellows, has a 

University for his admirer, and pr - predicting for 

him the most successful career of the age. II 

That pur] the 

:v of truth, for in the old library he has Btumbled 

on a Bible. Follow him out into the new world Which 

that volum< flashed upon his bouI. With Pilate's 

. his lip and in bis bril- 

liant prospect — parts without h with academical 

distinct in an Augustine con- 

- the watchman and Bweeper of tlic 
plac licant friar, with the conve 

where he had been wel- 
comed as b friend, or had I i; as a lion — wa 
himself with voluntary pen well-nigh to' the 
grave — studies the Fathers intensely, but can get no 
lighl — pores over the Book itself, with scales upon his 
eyes— catches a dim Btreak of auroral brightness, but 
leaves Erfurt before the glorious dawn — until at last, in 
his cell at Wittemberg, on bis bed of languishing at 

ad finally at Rome Pilate's question an- 
swered upon Pilate's Btairs — there comes the thrice- 
repeated Gospel-whisper, "The just shall live by faith," 



BIS i ii- 1: AND ITS J ;;| 1 

and tlu 1 glad Evangel i the darkening and shr< 

the paralj Bis, and he rises into moral freedom, a new 
man onto the Lord I JI< has a pnrposi , that Augusti 

■k. Thai purpose is the Reformation ! Waiting 
with the modesty of the hero, until he is forced into the 
ife, with the courage of the hero he Bteps into the 
breach to do battle for the living truth. Tardy in 
forming his resolve, he is brave in Ins adhesion to it. 
Not like Erasmus, " holding the truth in unrighteous- 
ness," with a clear head and a craven heart — not like 
Carlstadt, hanging upon a grand principle the tatters 
of a petty vanity— not like Seckingen, a wielder of car- 
nal weapons, clad in glowing mail, instead of the armor 
<>f righteousness and the weapon of ail prayer — but 
bold, disinterested, spiritual — he stands before us God- 
prepared and God-upheld — that valiant Luther, who, in 
his opening prime, amazed the Cardinal de Yio by his 
fearless avowal, "Had I five heads I would lose them 
all rather than retract the testimony which I have 
borne for Christ" — that incorruptible Luther, whom the 
Pope's nuncio tried in vain to bribe, and of whom he 
wrote in his spleen : "This German beast has no regard 
for gold ?? — that inflexible Luther, who, when told that 
the fate of John IIuss would probably await him at 
Worms, said calmly, "Were they to make a fire that 
would extend from Worms to Wittemberg, and reach 

in to the sky, I would walk across it in the name 
the Lord" — that triumphant Luther, who, in his 
honored age, sat in the cool shadow and 'mid the 



312 TUE FKOrilET OF HOREB, 

purple vintage erf the tree himself had planted] aud 
after a storniful sojourn, Bcaped the toils of the hunt 
and died peacefully in hi- bed — that undying Luther, 
•- who, ." the mention of wi 

name r I manly, and quickens the 

pul ; whose spirit yet e irs, like a clarion, 

:idom ; ami whose V&J h 
ha'- rirtne, that, like the hones of 

. it' on them wer 
Pr fa itant y would it into life to the 

honor and j id ! 

. <>ur illustrations mainly from 
Elijah. AW' ha I that unity 

of pu: •* effort were leading 

tfOB, 

I in ti. ae of Carmol. 

• '! up t! . with all its adjunct 

"f powi :*. T ■'• rtUe 

hill. dy ; the id<-Ia- 

all the ; f their hl<»!- 

i by that solitary hut princely man — 

anxious multitude— the deep silence 

I t«» fire 

— 1 : MI)- 

D until 
until the time of the offering 

Klijah ; 
building of the altar of unfurl the 



BII r.ni: and i 3ig 

drenching and surrounding it with water, strangest of 
all strange preparations for a burnt-sacrifice -the 

ing as if it blushed al the folly of the priests of 
Baal — the sun sloping Blowly to the west, and falling 
aslant upon the palefaces of thai nnweary multitu 
rapt in fixed attention, patient, stern, unhungering — the 
high accei te of holy prayer — the Bolemn pause, agon- 
g from it- depth of feeling — the falling flame, " a 
intelligence and power" — the consuming of all 
the material- of the testimony — and that mighty 
triumph-shout, rolling along the plain of Sharon, 
waking the echoes of the responsive mountains, and 
thrilling over the sea with an eloquence grander than 
its own ; there it stands — that scene in its entireness — 
ni« 1st wonderful even in a history of wonders, and one 
of the mo>t magnificent and conclusive forthputtings of 
Jehovah's power! But abstract your contemplations 
now from the miraculous interposition, and look at the 
chief actor in the scene. How calm he is ! How still 
amid that swaying multitude! They, agitated by a 
1 emotions — he, self-reliant, patient, brave! 
Priests mad with malice — people wild in wonder — an 
ominous frown darkening the royal brow — Elijah alone 
unmoved ! Whence this self-possession ? What occult 
principle so mightily sustains him? There was, of 
eoiir--, unfaltering dependence upon God. But there 
mess of integrity of purpose, and 
of a heart M at one." There was no recreancy in the 

soul. He had not been the pass server, noi: the 

l I 



314: THE PROPHET OF HORKB, 

guilty connivcr at sin. He had not trodden softly, lost 
he b shock Ahab's prejudices or disturb l»is tep 

He had not - ;arnivals of - 's table. 

He had 1 a dastardly neutrality. Et^ry 

one knew him to be "on the Lord's side." Hid Heart 
was always in tune; like Memnon's harp, it trembled 
into melody al 

With t! • behooi i ftftk 

our t Elijah and Luther may 

be i 1 1 i nol i affect knight- 

; ind-mills to ]>r<»\ e our 
valor, or d and iibptKlence 

• our mission is 
to beard unfaithful royalties, or to pull down the 

with the a-ociat: 
B l1 in t 1 tch of US in thd 

ma] j of labor \\ bile the 

. and t!. 

hun rigorously 

re and hoi 
workms I improvement was 

nev< • far 

to bring it into subjection to the control 

rcdty — to acquaint the mind with all 
i hoard, with miser's care, every fwfaii] 

• * ine the beautiful arfand 

bus leaf around the Corinthian 
pillar— to quel] th< rd pro] \ of the nature 

— to evolve the SOU] into the Completeness Of in- mend 



SIB I i: 1. and us i ;;| g 

manhood —to have the passions in harness, and firmly 
port them — " to bear the image of the heavenly " to 
BtrWfl after " thai mind which was also in Chrisl Je 
— here is a field of labor wide enough for the □ 
resolute will. The sphere of beneficent activity was 
never bo large. To infuse the leaven of purify into the 

ordered masses— to thaw the death-frost from the 
heart o£ the misanthrope — to make the treacherous one 
faithful to duty — to open the world's dim eye to the 
majesty of conscience — to gather and instruct the or- 
phans bereft of a father's blessing and of a mother's 
prayer — to care for the outcast and abandoned, who 
have drunk in iniquity with their mother's milk, whom 
the priest and the Levite have alike passed by, and who 
have been forced in the hotbed of poverty into prema- 
ture luxuriance of evil ; here is labor, which may 
employ a man's whole lifetime, and his whole soul. 
Young men, are you working? Have you gone forth 
into the harvest-Held bearing precious seed? Alas! 
peril aps some of you are yet resting in the conven- 

al, that painted charnel which has tombed many a 
manhood ; grasping eagerly your own social advan- 
ed by a dishonest expediency ; not doing a 
3t it should be evil spoken of, nor daring a faith 
leal the scoffer should frown. With two worlds to 
work in — the world of the heart, with its niany-pha 
mid wondrous life, and the world around, with its 
prol .ailing for solution, and its contradictio 

panting for the harmonizer — you arc, perhaps, en- 



816 

chained in the island of Calypso, thralled by its 
blandishments, emasculated by its enervating air. O, 
tor some strong-armed Mentor to thrust you over the 
cliff, and strain with yon among the buffeting Va^ 
Brothers, let ns be men. Let us bravely fling off our 
chains. It' we i commanding, let us at least 

it earnestness amend our incapacity. 
I. I ours qo1 b of puerile inanities or otisfequiods 

Mammi ship. Let us look through the pliant 

tral in his hollowness, and the churlish miset in his 

rwise than they. I I 

not be Ingrates while Heaven is generous, idlers 

whil dumberers while eternity is near. 

Let us have a ] thai ] | one. 

Wil ! principle all will be in disorder. 

• i by clamor 

• 1 I because Ulj 

• h : the I .:•!), let the 

authority, and 

the haj hall be slain— 

the heart, □ . : : fidelity 

to . a purpose of 

Valor and of ,. ; ,v to ivimwn, 

and achievi . Aim at this singleri 

of eye Abhor a life of Bclf-contradicti< a 

nature. And 
'ha-. purpo e a worthy ]>nr- 

I" • tofl in vain. Work in the inner— it 

will tell upon tl orld. Purify 3 a heart 



ills QJ7 

— you will have a reformative power on the neighbor- 
hood. SUrinc the truth within it will attract many 
pilgrims. Kindle the vestal tire if will ray out a life- 
gh ing light Elavo the mastery over your own spirit 

i will go far to be a world-subduer. Oh, if there be 
one here whowould up lifl himself or advance his 
fellows, who would do his brother "a good which shall 
live after him," or enroll himself among the bene- 
factors of mankind, to him we say. Cast out of thyi 
all that Loveth and maketh a lie — hate every false way 
— Bet a worthy object before thee — work at it with both 
hands, an open heart, an earnest will, and a firm faith, 
and then go on — ■ 

"Onward, while a wrong remains 

To be conquered by the right, 
While Oppression lifts a finger 

To affront us by his might. 
While an error clouds the reason, 

Or a sorrow gnaws the heart, 
Or a slave awaits his freedom, 

Action is the wise man's part! 1 ' 

The Prophet's consistency of purpose, his calmness In 
the time of danger, and his marvellous bu require, 

however, some further explanation, and that explanation 
1 he found in the fact that he WO* ,/ /*. 

Prayer was the forerunner of his every action — the 
grace of supplication prepared him for his might) 

ds. Whatever was Ids object — to seal or to open the 
fountains of heaven — to evoke the obedient lire on Car- 



3 IS fBM PBOPBEI OF BORKBj 

mel — to shed joy over the bereft household of tho 
Sareptan widow — to bring down " forks of ilame" upon 
tlie captains and their fifties — there was always the 
•inn and the earnest prayer. Tishbe, Zarcphath, 
Oarmel, Jezreel, Gilgal — he had his oratory in them all. 
And herein lai t of his strength. The moan 

tain-closet emboldened him for the mountain-altar. 
While the winged birds were providing for his body, the 
winged prayers m agthening his booL In answer 

to his ento secret, the whole armor of God was 

at his •. and he buckled the breastplate, and 

braced the the .-andals, and 

! forth £ PO, and men knew that 

he bad been in Jehovah's | amber from ike 

glory which lh:_ 

I only in n - 

to time, bnl in r< uity, this habit 

c onpleteness of his charac- 

h r. If the pn re his all — if his life were to tkftpe 

itself only amid surrounding compL of good or 

evil -if he had merely to impr individuality upon 

die and be r in the veiled 

future I and co q ; then, in- 

confident virtue, 

will his absolute law, Belf-a menl his Bupreic 

end. I the pr< Lies, in all its 

} el ity ; as the world to which we are all 

hast ry, fruition, ivrmn- 

au impartial r chronicles our lives, that 



; : A N l ) i : 3ig 

a righteous retribution may follow, our dependei 
upon G * befell and recognized, and there must 

be some medium through which to receive the com- 
mimical his will. This medium is furnished to 

a4 in prayer. It has been ordained by himself as b 
condition of strength and blessing, and all who are and* r 

authority are under binding obligations to pray, 
mg men, you have been exhorted to aspire. Self- 
reliance has been commended to you as a grand element 

character. We would echo these counsels. Tl 
arc botmsels of wisdom. But to be safe and to be per- 

b, you must connect with them the spirit of prayer. 
En: , unchastened by any higher principle, is to 

uiir perverted nature very often a danger and an evil. 
T of distinction, not of truth and right, becomes 

the ma- jsion of the soul, and instead of high-reach- 

ing labor after good, there .comes Vanity with its paro- 
dies of excellence, or mad Ambition shrinking from no 
enormity in its cupidity or lust of power. Self-reliance, 
in a heart nnsanctified, often gives place to Self-confi- 
dei: -horn brother. Under its unfriendly rule 

there rise up in the BOul over-weening estimate of self, 
inveteracy of evil habit, impatience of restraint or con- 
trol >sition to lord it over others, and that 
and repulsive obstinacy, which, like the dead 
ily in the ointment, throws an ill savor over the entire 

clnt. ;*ihe man. These are smaller manifestations, 

but, in congenial Boil, and with commensurate oppor- 

6f the worst forms ol 



320 THE PKOPUKT OF BO&l 

humanity — tlie ruffian, who is the terror of his neighbor- 
id; the tyrant, who has an appetite for blood; the 
atheist, who denies his God. Now, the habit of prayer 
will afford to these principles the salutary chock which 
they need* It will sanctity emulation, and make it a 
virtue to aspire. It will curb the exc f ambition, 

ep down the vaunting.- of unholy pride. The 
man will aim at the highest, bul in the spkit of the 

. and prompted by the thought of immortality — 

not the loose immortality dream* but the 

substantia] immortality of the Christian's hope — he will 
travel on b L In like manner will the habit 

of prayer c ; incipfe of e 

reliance. I: * ill ] , and 

bravery, [I n ill iginal Btrengtb 

in but, when it would wanton oral into u 
will restrain it by the 
of a higher power; it will Bhed over tin' man tin: nnrk- 

I w, existing 

in i I in com harmony, Indamit- 

B of the world, and loyal Bub- 

to the autb f Eeaven. Many noble 

! how this inner life of heaven — 

cibiningthe heroic and the , softening without 

ing the character, pre] ither for action or 

endurance— has Bhed its power over the oul of 

.1. How commanding is the attitude erf Paid from 

the time of his conversion to the truth ! What coiir. 

he ! Epicurean and Stoical philo 



ins i.n B AND TT8 LI :; j ! 

pherB, revealing the unknown God to the multitude r1 
\ ' , making the false hearted Felix tremble, and 
ahti istraining the pliable Agrippa to decision; 

Btanding, Bilver-liaired and solitary, before the bar of 
Nero; dying a martyr for the lored name of Jesus I — 
that heroism was born in the Bolitude where he im- 
pdrtunately" besought the Lord." ^In Luther's closet," 

- DWuMirnr, u we have the Becret of die Reforma- 
tion." He Puritans— those " men of whom the world 
wfed not worthy" — to whom we owe immense, but 

tftily-ocknowledged, obligations — how kept they their 

lity? Tracked through wood and wild, the baying 

of the tierce sleuth-hound breaking often upon their 

tered worship, their prayer was the talisman 

which "stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the 

lence of fire." You cannot have forgotten how 
exquisitely the efficacy of prayer is presented in our 
second book of Proverbs: 

hold that fragile form of delicate, transparent beauty, 

Ejht-blue eye and hectic cheek are lit by the bale-fires of 
'inc ; 
Hath not thy h( art BOid of her, Alas! poor child of weakness I 
Thou baf Goliath of Gath stood not in half her strength : 

For I i ranks of evil are routed by the lightning of her rye; 

ttphlm rally at her hide, and the captain of that host is God, 

. fluttering heart Is strong in faith assured — 

her might, and behold — -lie prayeth." * 

Desolate, indeed, is the Bpirit, like the bills of Gilboa, 

■ Tapper's "Proverbial Philosophy," of Prayer, p, 109, 
I 1 • 



322 

reft erf the precious things of heaven, if it never prays. 

Do you pray I Is the fire burning upon that secret 

ar I Do yon go to the closet as a duty 1 linger in it 

a privilege! What is that you say? There is a 

ffer in the Bame place of business with you, and he 

tells you it is cowardly to bow the knee, and he ji 

you about being kept in leading-strings, and urges you 

to avow you manliness, and as he is your room-mate, 

you have been ashamed to pray before him; and, 

erful, and resolute, and brave, 
that his some impression^ AVhat ! 

he braYe I He wh up the journey the oilier day 

because he Luckiest covered it was Friday; lie who 

party because kk the sail 

fell ;" he who, whenever friends 

icit and the tempter plies, 9105 he 

wh 1 look into his OWU heart, for he 

it a haunted house, with goblins perched uii 

landing to pa and hleneh the 

courage ; he a brave man I Ohl to your kneef, yctupg 
man; to y>\w knees, that the cowardice may be i'or- 
n and forgotten* r l 'in re is no bravery in blas- 
phemy, there is no dastardliness in godly tear. It is 

prayer whieh tens the weak, and makes the 

>ng man stronger. ELappj are you, ii' it is your 
habit and your privilege. Y ou can offer it anywhere. 

In the crowded mart or busy street; living along the 
gleaming line; Bailing Upon the wide waters; out in the 
broad world ; in the strife of sentiment and paastauj in 



HIS I. Ml AM) ITS ! 

the whirlwind of battle; at the festival and al the 
funeral; if the frost braces the spirit or the fog 

dej il ; it' the clouds are heavy on the earth, or 

the stthshine till- it with laughter; when the dew is 
dam]) upon tli' . or when the Lightning flashes in 

the sky; in the matins of sunrise or the vespers of 
nightfall ; let but the occasion demand it, let the need 
be felt, let the soul be imperilled, lei the enemy threat 
happy arc you, for you can pray. 

Wo learn from the prophet's history that GocFs dis- 

- is frequently a discipline of 

. I [is enforced banishment to the brook Cherith ; 

his Struggles in that solitude, with the unbelief which 

:ld fear for the daily sustenance, and with the set 
fishness which would fret and pine for the activities of 

: AhabV bloodthirsty and eager search for him, of 
which he would not fail to hear ; Jezebel's subsequent 
and bitterer persecution ; the apparent failure of his 
endeavors for the reformation of Israel; the forty days' 
in the wilderness of Iloreb — all these wore 
par!.- of one grand disciplinary process, by which he 
Was made ready for the Lord, fitted for the triumph on 
(\'irmel,-for the still voice on the mountain, and for the 
ultimate occupancy of the chariot of fire. It is a bene- 
ficent arrangement of Providence, that "the divinity 
which e i ur ends" weaves our sorrows into ele- 

me: ', and that all the disappointments and 

Conflicts to which the living are subject — the atllict ions, 
physical and mental, personal and relative, which are 



324 THE PROPHET OF IIOK! T». 

the common lot — may, rightly used, become means of 
improvement, and create in us sinews of strength. 
Trouble ifl a marvellous mortiiier of pride, and an 
effectual restrainer of self-will. Difficulties string up 
the tee to loftier efl d intensity is gained 

from n ;. By Borrow the temper is mellowed, 

and the feeling la refined. When Buffering hap broken 
up the Boil, and made the furrows soft, there can he 

implanted the hardy virtues which outd>rave the storm. 

I:i is God' alchemistry, by which 

the dr- ft in tlie crucible, the baser metals are 

trail with the -dd. 

It would l examples of the singular 

efficacy of trouble pline. Look at 

the history of l p< ople. A arose in 

Egypt "which knew : ph," and hi- har>h 

tyranny drove the lb ( foehen, 

and them t ) bond. 

The iron i For yean tl 

. until in his om n good time ( tod 
9e to th( , and brought them out %> with a hi 

hand and with I hed-OUt arm." We do not 

in, of all things, to make apologies for Pharaoh and 
hi.- task-masters, but we do mean to say that that bond- 

I many (..fit- results, a ble8Sing, and that the 

telite, building the tr< i , and, perhaps, the 

Pyrami - a very different and a very rape] 

being to the braelite, inexperienced and ease<-lovi] 

who led hi- in GK)Shen. God overruled that cap- 



in- LOT AND 1 

ti\ity, and made it the teacher of many Important 

They had been hitherto a host of families; they 
were to !"• exalted into a nation. There was to be a 
transition effected from the simplicity of the patriarchal 
government and clanship to the superb theocracy of the 
I.rvitical economy. Egypt was the school in which 
they were to be trained for Canaan, and in Egypt they 

v\c:v taught, although reluctant and indocile lean: 

the forms of civil government, the theory of subordina- 
tion and order, and the arts and habits of civilized lite. 

Hence, when God gave his laws on Sinai, those laws fell 
upon the ears <>£ a prepared people; even in the desert 

they could fabricate the trappings of the temple service, 
Snd engrave the mystic characters upon the " gems 
oracular" which flashed upon the breastplate of the 
High Priesl of God. The long exile in the wilderness 
of Midian was the chastening by which Moses was 
instructed, and the impetuosity of his temper mellowed 

I Bubdued, so that he who, in his youthful hatred of 
Oppression, Blew the Egyptian, became in his age the 
meekest man, the much-enduring and patient lawgiver. 
A very notable instance of the influence of difficulty and 
failure in rousing the energies and carrying them on to 
success, has been furnished in our own times. Of 

rsc we refer to this case in this one aspect only, 
altogether excluding any expression as to the merit Or 

demerit of the man. There will probably be I 

opinions about him, and those widely differing, in this 
embly. We are not presenting him as an example, 



326 THE PROPHET OF IIOKEB, 

but as an illustration — save in the matter of steady and 
persevering purpose — and in this, if he be even an oppo- 
nent, Fa% est ab lioste do<x I •>'. 

In the year 1S37, a young member, oriental alike in 
his lineage and in his fancy, entered Parliament, chi- 
valrously panting for distinction in that intellectual 
arena. He was already known as a succes>tul thn ■<>- 
retainer, and his party were ready to hail him as a 
promising auxiliary. Under these auspices be rose to 

make his maiden speech. But lie had made a irrand 

mistake. He had forgotten that the figures of 

phen's ; illy arithmetical, and that super- 

fluity of words, except in certain cases, is regarded as 
superfluity of naughtiness. Be Bet out with the inten- 
tion to dazzle, but count ntlemen object bo be 
dazzled, save on certain conditions. They must be 
allowed to pn ; for the Bhock, they must 
ha\ ■• band, and the operation most be 
performed by an established parliamentary favorite. 

In this Case all these conditions were wanting. The 

akrr was n jtarvcHu. lie took them by surprise, 

and lie pelted them with tropes like hail. HenCB he 

had not gone Car before there were signs of impatience; 

by and by the oie py of w Question," then came 

Borne parliamentary extravagance, met by defc&atae 

cheers; cachinnatory Bymptoms began to develop tfaem- 

:i the midst of an imposing ■ n- 

tenoe, in which he had carried his audience to the 

Vatican, and invested Lord John Russell with the 



ins i.ih; and i 327 

temporary CUB tody of t lie keys of St. Peter, the mirth 

gre and furious ; somnolent Bquireswoke np and 

joined in sympathy, and the house resounded with 
irrepressible peala of laughter, (fortified and ind 
iiant, the orator Bat down, closing with these memorable 
Words: '* I sil down now, bul the time will come when 
you will hear me!" In the mortification of thai night, 
we doubt Dot, was bom a resolute working for the 
fulfillment of those words. It was an arduous struge 
There were titled claimants for renown among his com- 
petitors, and lie had to break down the exclusmsm. 
There WAS a suspicion of political adventuring at work, 
and broadly circulated, and he had this to overcome. 
Above all, he had to live down the remembrance of his 
failure. But there was the consciousness of power, and 
the fall which would have crushed the coward made 
the brave man braver. Warily walking, and steadily 
toiling, through the chance of years, seizing the oppor- 
tunity as it came, and always hiding his time, lie 
climbed upward to the distant summit, prejudice 
melted like snow beneath his feet, and in 1S52, fifteen 
short years after his apparent annihilation, he was in 
her Majesty's Privy Council, styling himself Eight 
Honorable, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and leader of 
the British Souse of ( !ommon& 

, are there difficulties in your path, hindering 
y«.ur pursuit of knowledge, restraining your benevolent 

endeavor, making your Spiritual lite a contest and a 

toill Be thankful for them. They will test your 



328 

capabilities of resistance. You will be impelled to 
persevere from the very energy of the opposition. If 
there be any might in your BOul, like the avalanche of 
snow, it will require additional momentum from the 
tacles which threaten to impede it. Many a man 
lias thus rohed himself in the spoils of a vanquished 
difficulty, and his conquests have accumulated at avery 
onward and upward step, until he has rested from his 
labor — the sful athlete who has thrown the world. 

" An unfortunate illustration," you arc ready to say, 
" for all cannot win the Olympic crown, nor wear the 
miaii laurel. What of him who fails J How is lie 
recompensed! What dot [jain?" Wliat! Whjj 

Strength for Life. Eis training has insured him that. 
He will never forget tin- gymnasium and it- lesspns. 
ii< will always b< url man, a man of muscle 

and of sinew. The keal merit i- not in the 

lvor, and, win or Lose, he will Ue 
honored and crowded. 

Jt may be that the sphere of Borne of you is that of 
endurance rather than of enterprise. JTou are not 
called : >ul to resist The power to work has 

reached its limit for a while; the power to wait must 
!>•• exerted. There are periods in our history when 
Providence shuts as up to the exercise of faith, wlmn 
pati( 1 fortitude are more valuable than valor and 

B, and when any "further Struggle wonld hut 

defeat our prospects and embarrass our aims." To 
resist the powerful temptation ; to overcome the h. 



nra ufi \m» n i 

ting sin; '■ in the Buddcn impulse of anger: to 

• the door of the lips, and turn back 

the biting sarcasm, and the word unkind ; to be patienl 

nnder unmerited censure; amid opposing friends, and b 

ffing world, to keep the faith high and the pur] • 
firm j to Watch through murky nighl and howling storm 
for the' coming day ; in these cases, to be .-till is to be 
brave; what Burke has called a " masterly inactivity 
is our highest prowess, and quietude is the part of hero- 
ism. There is a young man in business, battling with 
e strong temptation, by which lie is vigorously 
ailed; he is solicited to engage in some unlawful 
undertaking, with the prospect of immediate and lucra- 
tive returns. Custom pleads prescription: "It is done 
every day.'' Partiality suggests tliat so small a devia- 
tion will never be regarded — "Is it not a little one?" 
Interest reminds him that by his refusal his "craft will 
he in danger/' Compromise is sure that "when he 
bows himself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord will 
pardon his servant in this thing." All these fearful 
are urging his compliance. But the Abdiel- 
Qce triumphs — help is invoked where it can 
never be invoked in vain, and he spurn- the temptation 

away. Is he not a hero? Earth may despise Buch a 

victory, but he can afford that BCOrning when, on 

him, "there is joy in heaven/ 3 Oh, there 
are, day by day, vanishing from the world's presence, 

those of whom she wotieth not; whose heritage has 
been a heritage of Buffering; who, in the squalors of 



;j:jn THE PROPHET OF DOREB, 

poverty, have gleaned a hallowed chastening; from 
whom the firea of Bickneea have scaled their earthlii. 
away, and they have grown up into BUch transcendent 
and archangel beauty, that Death, Gk>d'i ea^le, 
them into heaven. Murmur not, then, it', in the 
allotments of Providence, you are called to 
Fer, rather than to do. There i> a time to labor, and 
there la a time to refrain. The comply ot* the 

Christian ehar;. tfl in energetic working, when 

working ifl practicable, and in submissive waiting, when 
waiting ay, Fou believe that beyond the 

waste of waters there ifl a rich land to be diacovbred, 
and, like Columbus, you have manned the reeael and 
I tut yo ir difficulties are increaain^. 
re failing them for fear j they wepl 

wh( ighl of land ; the diMance is 

than you thought: there ifl a weary and unva- 

; 3 on have nut ipoHtn 
a .-hip nor exchanged a greeting; your crew are becom- 
ing unit in I brand you mad; offi ad men 

wd round you, ly demanding return. M 

net a hair's breadth. Command the craven spirits t<> 
their duty. Bow them before the grandeur rf your 
couragi . le triumph of your faith : 

" l! ithi our, 

L> ■ irmer 

Gird jour soul iritfa 
While, no ti. :• her lurking, 

rati.'::..' i:i Iht pei fed workiug, 
d ■! length." 



ii ; LUTE AND IT8 1 ;;;; | 

Ha! What isitl W'lia! .-.-ivs the watcher 1 Land in 
the distance I No; ool ye1 bul there's a hopeful fra- 
grance in the breeze; the sounding-line gives shallower 
and yel Bhallower water; tiny Land-birds flutter 

round, venturing on timid wing to give their joyous 
Icome. Spread the canvas to the wind ; by and by 
there ahall be the surf-wai e on the strand ; the summits 
of tbe land of promise visible; the flag flying at the 

harbor's mouth, and echoing from grateful hearts and 
manly voices, the swelling spirit-hymn, " So lie bringeth 
us to our desired haven." 

We are taught by the Prophet's history the evil of 
un<luc disquietude about the aspect of the times. The 
follower.- of Baal had been stung to madness by their 
defeat on Carmel, and Jezebel, their patroness, mourn- 
ing over her slaughtered priests, swore by her idol-gods 
that she would have the Prophet's life for theirs. On 
this being reported to Elijah, he seems to be paralyzed 
with fear, all his former confidence in God appears to 
be forgotten, and the remembrance of the mighty de- 
liverances of the past fails to sustain him under the 
pressure of this new trial. Such is poor human nature. 
He before whom the tyrant Ahab had quailed — he 
whose player had suspended the course of nature, and 
Sealed up the fountains of heaven ; he who, in the face 

;.!! Israel, had confronted and conquered eight hun- 
dred and fifty men — terrified at the threat of an angry 
woman, flees in precipitation and in terror, and, hope- 
less for the time of his own safety, and ni the success of 



332 TnE PROPHET OF HOREB, 

his endeavors for the good of Israel, wanders off into the 
wilderness, and sighs forth his feelings in the peevish 
and melancholy utterance : Let me die. "It is enough 
— now, O Lord God, take away my lite, for I am no 
better than my Bathers." This desertion of duty, failure 
of faith, ludden cowardice, unwarranted despondency, 
petulance, and murmuring, arc characters modern 

no less than ancient days. There is our class of Observ- 
ers, indeed, wlm are not troubled with any disquietude; 
to whom all wears the tint of the rose-light, and who 

dispoaed to regard the appreh( of their soberer 

ghbors as dysp mptoms, or as incipient hy£o- 

ohondriacianL W • is mentioned, the} 

in an i like the Malvern patients, 

ol whom Sir Lytton Be . after haying 

made then: mummies Id the ki pack," 

ir matutinal course df hy- 
dro] Wre BO inte: hi!ar;tted, and liave such 
an exuberance Ol animal . that tlnv are obli 

to nm a consider* i for th< i >t working 

Their volubility of prai ttraordi- 

nary, and it is only when they are thoroughly < »ut of 

breath, that yen have the chance to edge in a syllable. 
They tell us thai I "golden," auriferous in all 

■8 in imnied* 

advantage and in auguries of futur< L We are 

pointed to tin,' kindling love of freedom, to the quick- 
ened onset of inquiry, to the stream of legislation broad- 
ening as it flows, to the increase of hereditary mind, to 



HU l.li I. AND 1 . 

the Betting further and further back of die old land- 
marks of improvement, and to the incloBure of whole 
acres of intellectual and moral waste, thought formerly 
Dot worth the tillage. We would no! for one oaomi 
be understood to undervalue these and other 
equally and yet more encouraging. On the other hand, 
. no alarmists, we would not be insensible to the 
fe^rs of those who tell us that we are in danger; that 
our liberty, of which we boast ourselves, is Btrangely 
like licentiousness ; that our intellectual eminence may 
prove practical folly ; that our liberality verges on in- 
differentism ; and that our chiefest dignity is our yet- 
unhumbled pride, that (ppurrjfia oapnoq, which, in all its 
varh ties, and in all its conditions, is "enmity against 

i." A very cursory glance at the state of thii 
around us will suffice to rdiow that witli the dawn of a 
blighter day there are blent some gathering clouds. 

Amid th<»se who have named the Master's name, 
there is much which calls for caution and for warning. 
Political strife, fierce and absorbing, leading the mind 
oil' from the realities of its own condition; a current of 
worldly conformity setting in strongly upon the churches 
of the land; the ostentation and publicity of religions 
enterprises prompting to the neglect of meditation and 
of BecreJ prayer; sectarian bitterness in it- Bad and 

gry developments; the multiform and lamentable 
exhibitions of practical Antinomianism which abound 
among us — all these have, in their measure, prevented 
the fulfillment of the Church's mission in the world. 



334 THE PEOPHET OF HORKB, 

If vou look outside the pale of the churches, viewed 
from a Christian stand-point, the aspect is somewhat 
Alarming. Crime does not diminish. The records of 
our offices of police and of our courts of justice are 
perfectly appalling. Intemperance, like a mighty gulf- 
•t!ii, drowns its thousands. The Sabbath is system- 
atically desecrated, and profligacy yet axert wer 

to fascinate and to ruin BOuls. And then, deny it 
Ave will, there II the engrossing power Of Mammon. 

Oovetous neo s t h e rin of the heart, of the Church, of 

the world — is found everywhere; Larking in the guise 
of frugality, in the poor man's dwelling; dancing in 
shape of gold-fields and Australia before the flat- 
tered eye of youth ; Bhrined in the marts of the busy 
world, receiving the u ind worship of the traders 

in vanity; arrayed in pui id Taring sumptuously 

every day, in the mansion of Dives; twining itself 

round the pill .-ancillary of Grod J it is the 

a world-emperor still, Bwaying an absolute author- 
ity, with l« ■. :' tubordinat to watch its nod, 
and to perform it.- bidding. 

Then, l < iniquity of practical ungodlio 

there is also the iniquity of theoretical opinion. There 
is Popery, that antiquated Buperstition, which is oouung 
loftli in it- decrepitude, rouging over its wrinkles, and 
flaunting itself, as it oped to do in its well-remembered 
youth- T; various ramification of the 

subtilespiril of Unbelief: A //<< too, discarding Us formes 
audacity of blasphemy, emmming now a m irb 



ins LOT and ii» LI 1S< IKS. 

ami mendicant whine, asking our pity for its idioayn* 
bewailing its misfortune in nol being able to 
belieye thai there is a God; Rationalism, whether in 
the transcendentalism of Hegel, or in the allegorizing 
impiety of Strauss, or in the pantheistic philosophy of 
, eating cut the heart of til*' Gospel, into which 
rampire-fangs have fastened; Latit/ud on 

entimental journey in search of the religious instinct, 
doling out its equal and niggard praise to it wherever 
it is found, in Fet ichism, Thuggifim, Mohammedanism, or 
Christianity; that Bpecies of active and high-sounding 
skepticism, which, for want of a better name, we may 
call a Oredophdbia, which selects the confessions and 
a- the objects of its especial hostility, and 
which, knowing right well that if the banner is down, 
the courage fail-, and the army will be routed or slain, 
" furious as a wounded bull, runs tearing at the creeds ;" 
.ith all their oil-shots and dependencies (for their 
name tS Legion) grouped under the generic style of Infi- 
delity, have girt themselves for the combat, and are 
■rting and endeavoring to establish their empire over 
the intellects and consciences of men. And as this 
spirit of Unbelief has many sympathies with the spirit 
of Superstition, they have entered into unholy alliance 

— M Herod and Pilate have been made friends to- 
gether" — and hand joined in hand, they are arrayed 
againsl the truth of God. Oh, rare John Bunyanl 

Wai he not among the prophetfi 1 Listen to liis descrip- 
tion of the last army of Diabolus before the final 



33f5 

triumph of Inimanuel : " Ten thousand Doubters, and 
fifteen thousand Bloodmen, and old IncreduiAty K 
again made general of the army." 

In this aspect ofth tB tendencies are not always 

upward, nor its prospects encouraging, and Ave can 

understand the feeling which bids the Elis of our Israel 

• by the wayside, v g, for their heart.- tremble 

for the ark of God." We b< em to l»e in the mysterious 

which the prophet a, "The light .-hall 

r dark, hut unto tl 

." Ah ! here is our consolation. it 

■ known on1 ben our faith must imt be 

akened I labor interrupted by fear, 

k% J: . L d from the mount of 

Hoi the herito 

ther .nd that have nol bowed the knee 

to JJaal. I; is "known HI Lord; M and while we 

pity the Propfa I In the * solitary 

(hath, death under a cloud, d< ath in judgment, death in 

OS heaven 

pre] i him honor, • -it making 

lj to attend him, t!. rd int« > the 

char 

rs, it' there be this oj q, be it outb Bo 

i w the 1 j for the faith once delivered 

to the saints." Ifany are persuading as to give up and 
abandon our 1 W I rather to hold th< 

with a firmer grasp, and Infuse into them a holier li 
We can Imagine how the infidel would accost an intelli- 



gent ami heart) believer. u Be Independent; don't 

,\ longer in Leading strings, taking your faith 

from the y <»t' another; use your senses, which 

i the only means of knowledge ; cast your contf 
and ritual- awaj ; a Btrong man needs no crutch ' 
And we can imagine the reply. " Brother, the Bimile 
a happy one — my creed is not a crutch — it ifl a 
highway thrown up by former travellers to the land 
that is afar off. 'Other men haw Labored/ and of my 

n free will I 'enter into their labor. 3 If thou art dis- 
posed to clear the path with thy own hatchet, with 
Lurking serpents underneath and knotted branches over- 

d, God speed thee, my brother, for thy work is of 
the roughest, and while tliou art resting — fatigued and 
iff' — thou mayest die before thou hast come 
upon the truth. I am grateful to the modern Macada- 
mi/. i have toiled for the coming time. Commend 

the King's highway. I am not hound in it with 
fetters of iron. I can climb the hill for the sake of a 
wider landscape. I can cross the stile, that I may slake 
my thirst at the old moss-covered well in the field. 1 
can saunter down the woodland glade, and gather the 
wild heart's-ease that peeps from among the tangled 

d ; but I go back to the good old patli where the pil- 
grim's tracks are visible, and, like the shining light, 'it 
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day/" 
Sirs, this is not the time for us to be done with cree 
They are, in the various churches, their individual em- 
bodiments of what they believe to be truth, and their 

15 



388 THE tfiOFHBT OF HOBEB, 

individual protests against what they deem to be error. 
"Give up our theology !" Bays Mr. James of Birming- 
ham; "then farewell to our piety. Give up our 
theology! then dissolve our churches; for our churches 
are founded upon truth. Give up our theology I then 
next vote Our Bibles to be myths. And this is clearly 
the aim of many, the destruction of all tl Gse together; 
our pie >ut Bibles. 13 This testimony is 

tnir. ] e an attack upon the one without 

damage and mischief to the other. 



e> v 



What tiiii 
I" 
I!' 

;' ( 'liri-tianity 
piritual pr enshrined in them 

will la: - Sold fast," then, -the form 

- >und word ."' Amid the war of sentiment and the 
philosophy, though the schist may 

fool may himdi, let your 

o forth t<> the moral mil M I am 

termined to know nothing among nun Bavi Ohz 

and him crucified. w 

There is another matter to which, if you would sd6- 

fully join in ' I tnce to the works of evil, you m 

earnesl heed, and thai is the desirableness, 1 had 

almost said the D -I will Bay it, for it is my 

mn conviction, and why Bhould it not he manfully 



/ of public dedication to the 

our M.. b I will readily admit 

thai conf< requisite for the eompleten 

esliip; and you cannol bave forgotten how I 
Apostle has linked it to faith. "Confess with thy mouth, 
and believe with thine heart." To such confession, in 
:t dav, at all events, el lowship is 

vssary. You cannot, adequately make it in social 

intercourse, nor by a consistent example, nor even by a 

decorous attendance with outer-court worshippers. There 
must be public and solemn union with the Church of 

rifiti The influence of this avowed adhesion ought 
not to be forgotten. A solitary "witness" of obedience 
or faith is lost, like an invisible atom in the air; it is 
the union of each particle, in itself insignificant, which 
makes up the "cloud of wit] " which the world 

can .-re. Your own admirable Society exemplifies the 
»ciation in benevolent and Christian 
enterprise, and the Churches of the land, maligned 

they have been by infidel slanderers, and imper- 
fectly — very imperfectly — as they have borne win. 
for God. have ye1 been the great breakwaters against 

-rand sin, the blest Elims to the deserl wayfarer, 
the tower of strength in the da;. rife. 

Permit tu to urge this matter upon von. Of course we 

y — that were tn ason i 

the noble catholicity of this r — though each of 

your lecturer.- has the Church of his intelligent pre- 
ference, and we are none of bs ashamed of our own; 



340 THE PROPHET OF IIOREB, 

but we do mean to Bay, that you ought to join your- 
selves to that Church which appears to your prayerful 
judgment to be most in accordance with theNewTes 
ment, there to render whatever you po£ f talent, 

and influence, and labor. This is my testimony, sin- 
ly and faithfully given ; and if, in its utterance, it 
ill, by God's bl . recall one wanderer to alle- 

giance, or c e waverer to decision, it will not 

in vain. 
Ye\ b upon this head. There must be 

fluential and transforming godli- 
9. \u I, valuable Church privileges — 

what b i They 

musl he faithful 1;.' men of c id hearts— 

who are rk of the Lord. Believe me, the 

! the fervor of apostolic 
. are n qpin ft far I of the present 

and C01 I burch of tlic future, which is 

. must be a 
livii Scriptural principles mu6t 

1m- enunciated 1-y . . with John the Baj ear- 

, and with John the Evangelist's love. It i 

and affection arc 
unfi 1 ats in knowledge, 

the most of ( omI, arc reserved in his 

Who hut the 

jould worm oul of the Blaster's heart 
the foul betrayer's name J WTiose heart hut his was 

hich was flung 



841 

into it in the island of Patmo 1 There mm I be I 
onion of < faithfulne i and d< ej est love to 

for the c< >ming i : and to gel i , 

n did : we mi:M lie up >n I be M 
bosom until the smile of the blaster haa burned out 
6i our b( arts all earthlier and coarser passion, and I 
cha the bravery of the hero by the meek 

the child. 

The great lesson which is taughl us in the Prop] 
history, Is that which was taught to him by the revelation 
on Horebj that flu Word is GocTs chosi n indfrvmu ntality 

, and for the world? 8 r< covi ry. 

>ther lessons, doubtless, for his personal 

He bad deserted its duty and was rebuked; 

he had become impatient and exasperated, and was 

calmed down; craven-hearted and unbelieving, he was 

fortified by the display of God's power; dispirited and 

wishing angrily for death, he was consoled with 

nd prepared for future usefulness and duty. 

But the grand lesson of all was, that Jehovah, when he 

works, works not with the turbulence and passion of a 

man, but with the stillness and grandeur of a God. 

u He was not in the whirlwind, nor m the earthquake, 

■ in the fire, but in the still, small voice." And b 
U Mill. u The whirlwind " of battle, " the earthqual " 

' convulsion and change, "the fire" of 
loftiesl intellect, or of the most burning eloquence, are 
valueless to uplift and to rate the world. Hey 

may he, they very often are, the forerunners of the 



312 T1IK PROPHET cF BOR1 EBj 

moral triumph, but God's power is in his 
presence is in his Word, Here it is that we arc at 
ep ami deadly issue, with the p>eudo-]>hil 
- and ben* M " who pn i be 

selves. Thi y dtiectfertro 
Christ; they ignore the influence of the llolv Spirit; 
they proclaim I ibility of their nature in itself; 

I the Word as an instrument 

progress; and, of their own masonry, are piling np a 

tower, it' haply reach unto heaven. This is the 

lem of tl I >o not let as deceive oto- 

] htful, working, 

men, intent i fi aanship 

has 
hilanthropy ired 

Of in-ti- 

tufa : of the ] >1 have 

d out ia c , from the 

tmunism lias flung 
r all the mant! 
of which it has darkly hidden the : ' - terrible 

purpose — nay, . inds out a 

h bgVlBg a 

. which i I i recr< 

f the world. And vet the 

r will it ev< p be, by such 

•. ( all up History. She will 

bear impartial witn< . She will tell you that, bef 

Chi te with his 1/ of purity and freedom, 



his i.n 1: AND ITS 1 ;;j;; 

ilture, tli« i baser the character ; thai the 
untamed inhabitanl of the old I [ercynian I 

the Scythian and Slavonic tribes, who lived north of the 

• 

mbe and the Rhine, destitute entirely of litem 
and arl kill, were, in morals, far superior to the 

-'k and all-accomplished Roman. Call up 
; she Bhall speak on the matter. You hi 
ed in knowledge; have you,. therefore^ increa ed 
in pietj 1 Xou have acquired a keener aesthetic suscep- 
tibility; have you gotten with it a keener relish for I 
•dually true? Your mind has been led out into 
her and yet higher education; have you, by its nur- 
brought nearer to God? Experience throws 
into the testimony of History, and both com- 
. ure us that there may be a Bad divorce 
between Intellect and Piety, and that the training of 
the mind is noi jarily inclusive of the culture and 

of the heart. Science may lead us to the 
loftiest heights which her inductive philosophy has 
scaled; art may suspend before us her beautiful crea- 
nature may rouse a " fine turbulence " in heroic 
souls ; the strength of the hills may nerve the patri 
arm, as the Swise fell the inspiration of their mount;, 
on the Moi battle-field; but they cannot, any or 

all m, instate a man in sovereignty over his 

mil corrupt] a race with moral 

and power. It' the grand old demon, who I 

the \v >rld B thrall, is, by these mean-, ever 

disturbed in his possession, it is only that he may 



344 TU,: PROPHET c>F HOBKB, 

wander into desert places, and then return fresher for 
the exercise, and bringing seven of his kindred m< 
inveterate and cruel. No! if the world is to be re- 
generated at all, it will be by the "still, small \ ' ;* 
that clear and marvellous whisper, which is heard high 
above the din of Btriving peoples, and the tumult of 

:lment and passion j which runs along the whole V 
of | ihing its spiritual telegraph into every 

art, that it may link them all with God. All human 

dilations have alloy about them ; that Word is 

All human speculations fail ; that Word 
hated it ; but it lived on, while the 
from tl ine which Shekinah had 

d royea. 

d it, hut it en Ins phy 

is in ruins. H e Roman threw it 

. but it r ■ i its ashes, and Bwooped 

falling 

own malignity had heated 

bott( i" than it- wonl :" but it came out 

tell erf fire. The Papi $1 fastened serpents 

and it to poi , shook them off and felt no 

m. Tl: it overboard in a tempest of 

iasm, but it antly upon the 

• i I the proud % living still, yet 

rd in the l<»ud( ing of I ' m ; it 1,: 

bile ; it ow. The world 

i iy tone, and it shall ultima:- 

ak in power, nntfl it lias spoken this dismantled 



ins LIFE AND TT8 ] 845 

planet up again into the smiling brotherhood of worlds 
which kepi their first i ta e, and God, welcoming the 

digal, shall look at il as ho did in the beginning, and 
pronounce it to bo very good. 

It is as they abide by his Word, and guard Bacredly 
this precious treasure, thai nations Btand or fall. ] 
empires of old, where are theyS Their power is 
dwarfed or gone. Their glory is only known by tradi- 

:. Their deeds are only chronicled in song. But, 
amid surrounding ruin, the Ark of Qod blesses the 
of Obed-Edom. We dwell not now on our 
national greatness. That is the orator's eulogy and the 
poet's theme. We remember our religious advantages 
— God recognized in our Senate, Lis name stamped on 
our currency, his blessing invoked upon our Queen, our 
60s] 1 I ministry, our religious freedom, our unfettered 
privilege, our precious Sabbath, our unsealed, entire, 
wide-open Bible. "God hath not dealt with any nation 

he hath dealt with us," and for this same purpose our 

3 are extensive, and our privileges secure — ■ 

that we may maintain among ourselves, and diffuse 

amid the peoples, the Gospel of the blessed God. Alas! 

that our country has not been true to her responsibility, 

nor lavish of her strength for God. It would be well 

for us, and it is a startling alternative, if the curse 1 of 

Meroz were our only heritage of wrath — it' our only 

1 were that we"came not up to the help of the 

Loj I : the mighty." Butwe have not merely 

been indifferent — we have been hostile. The cupidity 

15* 



34-G THE PROPHET OF HOREB, 

of our merchants, the profligacy of our soldiers and 
>TBj the impiety of our travellers, have hindered the 

work of the Lord. Our Government lias patronized 

paganism; our Boldiery have saluted an idol; our 
oon have roared in homage to a senseless stone — 

nay. we ha d pandered to the prostitution of a 

murder of thousands of her sons, 
auched in by the barbarities of their religion 

— :i than the priests of ohh we 

have flung in1 treasury the hire of that 

adultery and blood, oh! it' the righteous Gk>d were to 
make inquisition for blood, upon the testimony of how 
ma] filtered \ avict pampered 

I lordly Britain ! T' pong oeed- 

1 hum!. '.He who girt us 

with ]• Iry up our Btrength. 

I. • but hu kindled by ^\:i- repeated iuiideli- 

' i :il 1 fall. More ii. :it than 

. the profusion of her opulence, .-he shall he 
ndden tl ylon in her ruin ; more renowned 

I | for her military triumphs, rdiall he m 

than Carthage in her mourning; princelier 
commercial greatness, Bhall be m< 
nal than Tyre in her fall; wider than Rome in her 
ent of territorial dominion, shall ho more prostrate 
than Rome in her emeni ; pronder than I 

in heremic f intellectual culture, -hall he m< 

raded tl in her darkening; more i 

than Capernaum in the fullness of her religious privi 



ins i hi: and ITS 1 ;; 17 

lege, shall be more appalling than Capernaum in the 
deep damnations of her doom* 

mg men, it Is for you to redeem your country 
from this terrible curse. "The holy seed shall be the 
substance thereof." As you, and those like von, are 
impure or holy, you may draw down the destruction, 
or conduct it harmlessly away. You cannot live to 
yourselves. Every word you utter makes its impr< 
Bionj every deed you do is fraught with influences — 
jive, concentric, imparted — which may be fell for 

. This is a terrible power which you have, and it 
dings to you ; you cannot shake it off. How will you 
rl it i We place two characters before you. Here 
i> one — he is decided in his devotcdness to God ; pains- 
taking in his search for truth; strong in benevolent 
purpose and holy endeavor; wielding a blessed influ- 
ence; failing oft, but ceasing never; ripening with the 
lapse of years ; the spirit mounting upon the breath of 

parting prayer ; the last enemy destroyed ; his 
memory green for ages ; and grateful thousands chisel- 
ling on his tomb: "He, being dead, yet bpeaxeth." 
There is another — he resists religious impressions ; out- 
grows the necessity for prayer ; forgets the lessons of 
his youth, and the admonitions of his godly home; for- 
sakes the sanctuary; sits in the seat of the scorner; 
laughs at religion as a foolish dream; influences many 
for evil; runs to i of wickedness ; Bends, in some 

instances, his victims down before him; is stricken with 
premature old age ; has hopeless prospects, and a ter- 



e °,]S TIIK raOFBJR OF HOR] 

rible ic-atli-Led; rota from the remembrance of his 

; and angel-hands burning upon Ins gloomy 

sepulchre the epitaph of his blasted life: "And that 

man m: IN BH INIQUITY." 

V ang men, which will you clu I affection- 

ately pr -m Oh, M Beek 

first the kingdom of Gk)d and I and 

all thin try, friendship — "dhallbe 

added unto you. M J do unfeignedly r< 

a number of you have air cided, 

1 ave "iily oik is one 

which many of your I ml that 

sympathy, four hop mine ; with 

your j their ke< Q( t,I< a syn ; athiza I have 

do1 hen 

phyr has a 1 . breath, and t 1 the 

lily-painted wii of the fancy, the Btmlij 

L I come to 3 ou as one of 

L " M v heart' and 

the future. II d is moving 

on, 'I mon mind of Humanity : 

can charm Worthy and toil- 

worn laborers fall and anon in the march] and 

their f< , ami tl hing a? 

. hich had blinded them, the; and 

r <»!!. an upward spirit evuked, 

which | Willingly let die. Young in 



HIS LIF] iND ITS 1 

]<>w of the beautiful, j oung Ld its quenchless thirst after 
the true, we ee that buoyant presence : 

band it '- i rod ice, 

The 

The one note of high music Btruck from the great hart 
of the world's heart-strings is graven on that banner 
The student breathes it at his midnight lamp — the poet 
groans it forth in those Bpasms of his soul, when he can- 
not fling his heart's beauty upon language. Fair 
fingers have wrought in secret at that banner. Many a 
child oi poverty lias felt its motto in his soul, like the 
lag) vestige of lingering divinity. The Christian longs 
it when his faith, piercing the invisible, "desires a 
Letter country j that is, an heavenly/' Excelsior! 
Excelsior! Brothers, let us speed onward the youth 
who holds that banner. Up, "up, brave spirit ! 

" Climb the steep and starry road 
To the Infinite's abode." 

Dp, up, brave spirit ! Spite of Alpine steep and frown- 
ing br<>w, roaring blast and crashing flood, up! Science 
has many a glowing secret to reveal thee ! Faith has 
many a Taber-pleasure to inspire. Ifa ! does the cloud 
stop thy progress? Pierce through it to the Baered 
morning. Tear not to approach the divinity ; it is his 
own tdnging which impels thee. Thou art speeding to 



35(J THE PKOPIIFT oF IIOREB, HIS LIFE AND ITS I 

thy coronation, brave spirit! Up, up, brave spirit! 
till, as thou pantest on the crest of thy loftiest achi< 
ment, God's glory Bhall burst upon thy lace, and God's 
fliee from Lis throne, in tones of approval 
and of wel . shall deliver thy guerdon : " I have 
made thee a little lower than the angels, and crowned 
ttfa glory and honor !" 



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1 iplse thy Youth. 

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Alab i A Southern Home. 

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